Sanctuary in their Hearts
by thatsanotherlovestory
Summary: Caroline had always sort of assumed that if she were ever to run away from her own wedding, she would run straight to Klaus. In reality, she'll have to find him and help him defeat his enemies before they can have their happy ending. (This story takes a sharp turn away from canon partway through 8x15).
1. Chapter I: Hold Your Peace

Hello and welcome to my first published Klaroline story!  
I love Klaus and Caroline, and I love writing, so when I had this idea, I decided I wanted to share it! I really enjoyed writing this, so I hope you enjoy reading it as well.  
The title of this story comes from _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens.  
A few warnings: this story starts with episode 8x15, then takes a sharp turn away from canon, but all magical children will be present in the story, so if that will prevent you from enjoying the story, you might want to stop reading now and save yourself the trouble. This chapter also mentions Damon's abuse of Caroline, so if that will make you uncomfortable in anyway, I sincerely apologize and recommend that you skip the second section of the chapter (if the formatting works properly).  
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, their characters, plotlines, or anything else. I'm just a fan who loves the show and wanted to share a story idea that randomly occurred to me.

* * *

Caroline was wearing a wedding dress. Not the wedding dress she would have chosen if she'd had months to plan her wedding like she thought she would, but a nice enough wedding dress. It was white, and lacy, and Caroline couldn't find fault with it. But she couldn't honestly say that she loved it either.

She was surrounded by the three girls she loved most; Bonnie, Lizzie, and Josie. She wished her mother could have been there, but she hoped that her mother was watching fondly from wherever she was, and had a bird's eye view of her daughter's wedding.

Caroline Forbes was getting married.

She was excited to get married, with Bonnie at her side as maid of honor, and her daughters acting as flower girls. She couldn't wait to marry Stefan; really, that was why she agreed to move up the wedding, not because she wanted to be involved in another one of the Salvatore brothers' schemes.

Especially now that Stefan was human, she really didn't want to waste any more time before they got married. She knew herself fairly well, and she knew that if she were given unlimited time to plan her perfect wedding, years would go by before she was satisfied.

They didn't have years anymore.

The twins were twirling around the room in their flower girl dresses, trying not to spill any of the flowers from their baskets. They were excited about the wedding, which at their age meant they were excited about wearing fancy dresses and throwing flowers as they walked down the aisle in front of their mother. They didn't know that the wedding was meant to bring Katherine Pierce storming into Mystic Falls, and Caroline and Alaric had already agreed that if she did show up, their first priority would be getting the girls away safely.

Bonnie, while still upset with Stefan and not overjoyed at Caroline's decision to marry him today, seemed resigned to the plan to lure out Katherine using her best friend's wedding, and had stopped offering criticism, or promises that it was part of her job as maid of honor to whisk Caroline away if she had second thoughts.

Caroline and Bonnie had helped each other with their hair, done each other's makeup, and zipped each other into their dresses. It all felt like when they would get ready for school dances together. Except this wasn't homecoming or prom, they weren't teenagers anymore (well, Caroline was, but she always would be, at least physically), and the third member of their trio was absent.

Caroline thought that they hopefully should have outgrown using formal events as cover for supernatural schemes at this point in their lives. After homecoming had been upstaged by a plan to kill as many Originals as Damon could reach before he was killed himself, prom was spent babysitting an emotionless Elena, and one decade dance after another had been victimized by magic and mayhem, Caroline would have hoped for a calmer wedding day, yet here she was, on the fringes of yet another plot.

This was a real, adult milestone in her life, and it made Caroline feel sick that she would have to do it without her parents and one of her best friends. When she had imagined her wedding as a little girl, it always included her father walking her down the aisle, her mother crying and giving her some family heirloom jewelry to wear, and Elena and Bonnie helping her get ready, then catching her bouquet at the reception.

Of all the people Caroline had always wanted at her wedding, only Bonnie had actually made it. Caroline had been clinging to her friend all day to hold on to some semblance of the dream wedding she had planned in her head when she was younger.

Caroline looked around the room at Bonnie and the girls, shaking her head to clear it. There was no use dwelling on childhood fantasies. This was her wedding, and she didn't need it to be perfect, because she was marrying the man she loved, and their marriage would be perfect.

"Are you ready, girls?" Caroline asked, smiling at her daughters.

"Yeah!" they cheered in response, clutching their baskets of flowers.

"Bonnie, are you ready?" Caroline questioned.

"If you're sure you want to do this, I'm right there with you," Bonnie confirmed.

Caroline was sure. She was nervous, of course, and she was worried about Katherine, and she still felt a little resentful that her wedding had been so rushed, but she was sure. She wanted to marry Stefan, she wanted to help with their plan to defeat Katherine, and she could do both. She just needed one last detail.

She was sure, she told herself, trying to ignore the way her hands shook as she reached for the necklace.

{ }

It was as she fastened the clasp of the cameo necklace that Stefan and Damon had encouraged her to wear to taunt Katherine that she lost it. This wasn't about her. This was about Elena, and Katherine, and Stefan, and Damon. Not Caroline. Her wedding day, the one day of her life that she was supposed to be the center of attention, the queen for the day, had been hastily thrown together in order to lure an old enemy to Mystic Falls out of jealousy, so that Stefan and Damon could ascertain and foil Katherine's plot to harm Elena. Even when the other girl was stuck in a magical coma, Caroline was still second choice after Elena.

Caroline missed Elena, of course she did, and she wished she was here, to fight with Bonnie over who got to be maid of honor, to find Caroline's old, new, borrowed, and blue; but an overwhelming part of her knew that if Elena was there, this wedding wouldn't be happening.

She had said it herself on numerous occasions: Stefan and Elena were each other's epic loves. There was no way that Caroline could compete with that, and while Elena was out of the picture, she hadn't had to. But if this plan succeeded and Elena was brought back to life, Mystic Falls would once again be the battleground of the Salvatores' fight over Elena.

She knew, she'd seen evidence of the fact that Stefan was willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life, for Damon, and for Elena. In all of the years they'd known each other, she'd seen no evidence that he would do the same for her. Even after he'd known she was being abused by his brother, he'd allowed it to continue, complicit in all of the pain and trauma she'd been forced to endure, in the name of protecting Elena and keeping her safe from Damon. When she'd been turned into a vampire, Stefan had helped her adjust, not out of empathy, but because Elena had asked him to. Stefan had asked to take Jenna's place in the hybrid ritual, not even to save Elena's life-they'd spent all day working on contingencies for that-but so that Elena wouldn't have to feel the guilt and grief that he had foreseen would accompany her death, when it had been Damon, and not Stefan, the supposed good brother, who rescued her and Tyler from the sacrifice, and that had once again not been about helping friends or doing the right thing, but about saving Elena.

Stefan had sacrificed his freedom, becoming the Ripper he had worked so hard to put behind him, to get the cure for a werewolf bite to save Damon's life. He'd been prepared to give up his one chance at being human, something he wanted more than anything, to save Damon's life after another encounter with werewolf venom. He'd been marked with the Hunter's Sword defending Damon while she had been giving birth to the twins, nearly dying in the process.

And Stefan had selflessly ended his relationship with Elena so that she could pursue her growing feelings for Damon, letting her go so that she could be happy, even if it wasn't with him.

Stefan had rejected her and treated her poorly in the past, but now, even when they loved each other and were getting married that day, Caroline still knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Stefan would risk everything for Damon and Elena, even if that meant Elena ended up with Damon. As long as Elena was happy…

As much as Caroline loved Stefan, and she truly did love him, she couldn't spend the rest of his life waiting for him to inevitably sacrifice her and their relationship for Elena or Damon.

"Bonnie," Caroline whispered.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked.

"I can't do this," Caroline confessed, pulling the cameo necklace until the clasp broke, the chain falling in two pieces onto her lap. "I can't get married as part of a trap for Katherine. I have to get out of here."

"Are you sure? Because once you leave someone at the altar, you can't really come back from that," Bonnie warned.

"This is all about Elena, Bonnie. Katherine doesn't want to hurt me, or you, or the girls, or even Stefan and Damon. She wants to hurt Elena, and Stefan and Damon will both do anything, sacrifice everything, to protect her. I said so many times that Stefan and Elena were each other's epic loves, and I guess it's still true," Caroline explained. "Every time I've imagined what my wedding day would look like, it was about me, and I know that sounds selfish, because I love Elena, you know I do, and I would never want her to get hurt, it's just that I wanted to plan every detail of my wedding, and be overjoyed to get married, and that isn't happening now. It just doesn't feel right."

"I think you're right," Bonnie agreed. "You should be the queen on your wedding day, not the distraction for another evil mastermind. I thought this idea wasn't fair to you from the beginning, I just went along with it because you seemed happy to be getting married and I wanted to support you. What do you want to do? Do you want to talk to Stefan yourself or do you want me to do it? Do you want to go home, or do you want to get out of town for a while? Should I call Alaric to pick up the girls, or do you want to keep them with you?"

Caroline took a deep breath, overwhelmed with Bonnie's questions.

"Would I be a terrible person if I said I didn't want to talk to him? I just don't want anyone to try to guilt me into going through with this because then I will," Caroline considered.

"No, you aren't. You're looking out for yourself and your daughters. You don't want them to see you in an unhappy relationship because you felt guilty and sacrificed your happiness for someone else's. I'll talk to him," Bonnie said.

"Please just tell him that I love him, but I couldn't get married just to lure Katherine here so that Stefan and Damon could save Elena. Tell him that I hope they all get to be safe and happy, however it works out," Caroline requested, handing the broken necklace to her friend. "And I want to take the girls with me to keep them out of harm's way if Katherine comes, so will you please tell Ric that they're with me?"

"I can do whatever you need, it's part of the maid of honor job description," Bonnie told her. "But you should go while you still have time,"

"You're right. If you need me, I'm going to my house to pack some things for me and the girls, and I'll have my cell phone, but I'm not sure where I'm going after that," Caroline responded. "Come on girls, let's go!"

"Where are we going?" Josie asked.

"We're going to make a quick stop at Mommy's house, and then we're going on an adventure! Doesn't that sound fun?" Caroline cheered, taking each of the girls by the hand and walking out of the room, mouthing "thank you" to Bonnie over her shoulder.

{ }

Caroline was in her bedroom, scrambling to pack as much clothing as she could fit into her suitcase when she received a text from Bonnie.

' _Stefan and Damon think that you leaving Stefan at the altar will make sure Katherine comes to try to "comfort" him. They think you're a genius.'_ Bonnie had written.

' _Did you tell them that this isn't part of their plan, this is real?'_ Caroline replied.

' _I tried, but they're both so focused on protecting Elena and defeating Katherine. Maybe once you leave they'll finally figure it out.'_ Bonnie informed her.

Caroline wished her friend luck, then sat on her suitcase so that she could zip it shut. She probably didn't need her entire wardrobe, but she wasn't sure where she was going or when she was coming back, so she figured it was better for them to be prepared.

It had been easier to pack for the girls, whose clothes were smaller so she could fit more in a suitcase, even with two of them. She managed to shove all of the girls' clothes that they had at her house into a suitcase, figuring that if they got bored with their own clothing, they could always swap, meaning she could put off shopping for new clothes for them as long as possible.

The first thing the three of them had done upon arriving home was change into more functional clothes so that they could pack the rest of them. Caroline dressed each of the girls in jeans, tee-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers, with Lizzie in pink and Josie in orange. She quickly changed into a plain grey long-sleeved shirt, a black corduroy jacket, black skinny jeans, and black knee-high boots. After they were all dressed and packed, Caroline started filling her oversized purse with essentials she needed to have on her, including her driver's license and passport, copies of the girls' birth certificates and their baby books, snacks and toys to entertain them in the car, a few blood bags for the road, and her wallet, stuffed with all of the cash she had in the house, though she would still stop at an ATM before she left town.

Caroline was aware that she was acting like someone who was on the run, but she was trying to outrun a potential supernatural apocalypse. She didn't know what Katherine was planning, and she wanted to get the girls out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

Caroline took a look around her now practically empty house. The furniture was all that remained; the closets and pantry were empty, the books, toys, and pictures all in suitcases, toiletries, makeup, and jewelry in Caroline's bag.

Caroline's phone vibrated again with a new message from Bonnie.

' _Katherine is here. She's trying to destroy Mystic Falls with hellfire. She has Vicki Donovan working with her. Matt is evacuating the town now._ '

' _Where are you? Are you safe? What is the plan to stop her?_ ' Caroline responded.

' _Alaric and I are on our way to the Armory, Stefan and Damon went to their house. I don't know if we can fix this one, Caroline._ ' Bonnie replied.

Caroline was torn. She didn't want to leave all of her friends during their time of need, but she also didn't want to put her daughters in danger.

' _Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to meet you at the Armory?_ ' Caroline asked.

Bonnie's reply was instantaneous.

' _We both want you to take the girls and get as far away as you can. We only have until ten to stop her. We'll meet you later if we can."_

' _Take care. Please be safe._ ' Caroline told her.

Caroline quickly shepherded the twins into her car, threw their luggage in the trunk, and pulled out of the driveway. She wasn't sure where to go, but she knew she had to get as far away from Mystic Falls as possible before it was reduced to a pile of ash. In the space of only a few minutes she had turned from a runaway bride to running for her and her children's lives.

When she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled over to read the new message.

' _Katherine took Elena's body and had her spelled into the boiler room at the high school. Stefan found her there, now Damon won't leave without Elena and Stefan won't leave without either of them._ '

Devastated that the nightmare she had run away from earlier seemed to already be coming true, she continued driving and called Bonnie, putting her phone on speakerphone so that she had her hands free to drive, even though she would rather the girls not overhear what was happening in Mystic Falls.

"Hey, Bonnie, I can't text and drive, and I need to get the girls out of here, what do you mean Katherine has Elena's body?" Caroline questioned.

"I don't know how she got it, but she took it and now Elena's trapped in the school. Matt says nearly everyone is out of town. Damon, Stefan, and Elena are basically the last ones. Ric and I have come up with what might be the only plan that can save Mystic Falls, but I have to run it by Stefan first. I'll call you right back," Bonnie rushed out.

"Okay, I love you," Caroline said.

"Love you, too," Bonnie replied before hanging up.

On the vacant street, Caroline approached two highway onramps.

"Which way, girls? North or south?" she asked the twins sitting in the backseat.

"North," said Lizzie.

"South," Josie responded.

"I'm thinking of a number between one and ten," Caroline told them, using the same game she always did when the twins disagreed. It seemed as good a way as any to decide which way to go.

"Eight," Lizzie chose.

"Two," Josie guessed.

"And the number was three! South it is," Caroline announced, turning onto the southbound highway.

{ }

Without a destination in mind, Caroline decided to just keep driving until she heard from Bonnie or she saw somewhere she wanted to take the girls.

It was five minutes to ten when Bonnie finally called Caroline back.

"Bonnie, what happened, are you okay? Is your plan working?" Caroline asked frantically.

"I haven't started yet. I can save Elena, though. I'm going to use the hellfire to destroy Katherine and all of Hell once and for all," Bonnie answered.

"That sounds dangerous! Are you sure you want to risk doing that?" Caroline worried.

"I'll be fine. That's not what I'm worried about. Caroline, someone needs to stay behind to make sure that Katherine is in Hell when it's destroyed," Bonnie admitted.

"And everyone else is out of town? No one else is going to be collateral damage, whether you can save Elena or not? I'd hate to see innocent people get hurt because of Katherine's vendetta," Caroline said.

"The only people still in town are Matt,-he's as safe as he can be, but he's the sheriff, he can't leave-Stefan, Damon, and Elena. Elena can't leave and you know Stefan and Damon won't leave without her or each other," Bonnie explained.

Caroline quickly understood what she wasn't saying.

"So one of them is going to stay behind, and sacrifice themselves to save Elena," Caroline deduced.

"I'm sorry, Caroline, but that's the only way this plan will work. I have to go, I'll call you as soon as it's over," Bonnie told her.

"Good luck, I love you," Caroline responded.

"I love you, too," Bonnie replied, then hung up.

Caroline wasn't a person who took many risks. She like plans, and order, and everything in its place. But when she dialed his number, she didn't think she was taking much of a gamble.

"Hi, Stefan, it's me, Caroline," she told his voicemail. "I just wanted to tell you that I know about Bonnie's plan, and I can guess what you're about to do, and I understand why you're doing it. So before you do it, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry that everything worked out the way it did. I wish that today had gone differently, and I'm sorry I ran away, but I just couldn't agree to be your wife when we both know that someone else is your epic love. I've always admired how selfless, loving, and generous you were with Elena, and with Damon, and I would have been so happy if you loved me that much. I would say that I hope Elena's safety and happiness is worth it to you, but I already know that it is. Maybe we weren't in love enough to make a marriage work, but I think that I'll always love you, and I just wanted you to hear that. I wanted the last thing I said to you to be that I loved you."

Caroline hung up the phone with tears streaming down her face.

{ }

It was almost eleven when the phone rang again, and it wasn't Bonnie calling, it was Alaric.

"How did it go, is everyone okay? Where's Bonnie? She was supposed to call me and she hasn't," Caroline demanded.

"Bonnie was exhausted after using so much magic, but she's fine. She destroyed Hell while Katherine was there. The plan worked. I'm fine, Bonnie's fine, Matt's fine, Elena's fine, well, by Elena standards, Damon's fine…" Alaric trailed off.

"I know," Caroline told him. "I called him to say goodbye."

"How are the girls?" Alaric asked, to change the subject.

"They're both asleep in the backseat of the car. We are on the freeway, heading south, and we have almost made it to North Carolina. Do you need us to turn around and come back? I mean, everything we were running from is gone," Caroline reasoned.

"You don't have to come back right away. I understand if you need time to grieve away from where you've lost everyone you're grieving. Mystic Falls is a ghost town right now, and it's going to take some effort to put it back the way it was. And since Stefan cured Damon, you're the only vampire left, Bonnie and the girls are the only witches, the supernatural community of Mystic Falls is pretty much gone. I wouldn't be surprised if Bonnie took off on a well-deserved vacation soon, too. I think you all deserve some time away from this place, and I think it might be good for the town to take a break from being a supernatural battleground. I trust you to take care of the girls, however long you decide to stay away, even if you're going where I think you're going." Alaric said.

"Where do you think we're going? I haven't even decided where we're going yet," Caroline asked.

"You mean you aren't planning to go to New Orleans?"

Caroline's breath hitched. The idea of going to New Orleans hadn't even occurred to her. She had been so disappointed the last time she was there, in a similar situation: with the girls, needing someone who could keep them safe when she was scared, lost, and alone.

"No, I wasn't. Why would you think that?" Caroline challenged.

"Well, I guess I assumed if you ever ran away from your own wedding, you would go to Klaus, and if you were running away from Mystic Falls because you and the girls were in danger, you would go to Klaus, and you did both today. Right now, what you need more than anything else is to feel safe and loved, and he'll give you that," Alaric explained.

"And, hypothetically, in your imagined mental scenario where I go to New Orleans, you're okay with the girls being around the Originals?" Caroline inquired.

"Caroline, there's probably no safer place for the three of you than with them. I know that you would protect the girls with your life, and I know that Klaus would protect you with his life, and he can't be killed. I can't be with them right now, because I have to help Matt and Damon get Mystic Falls back to working order, but I'd feel better knowing that you were safe and settled and together, not blindly driving down the east coast until you find a theme park that looks like fun," Alaric said.

"Okay. Last time I was there, Klaus wasn't even in New Orleans, but I know that it's some sort of capitol of supernatural activity. The girls and I will blend in there even if we can't find him. But we'll look for him. You're right, I think we'll feel safer if he's around," Caroline told him.

They said their goodbyes and hung up, Caroline lost in her own thoughts about Klaus.

Alaric had been right: Caroline had also sort of assumed that if she ever became a runaway bride, the first person she would turn to would be Klaus, who she knew would keep her safe and wouldn't judge her. She had been devastated when she had gone to New Orleans with the twins, looking for him, only to be told he was nowhere to be found. She had needed him, and he was gone without a trace. This time, she wouldn't give up on him so easily.

"All right, girls," Caroline whispered to her sleeping daughters. "New Orleans, here we come."

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I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I would love to hear what you thought, so please leave a review!  
Thank you so much for reading!

Love,  
charlotte


	2. Chapter II: Perhaps Today is the Day

Hello again!  
I'm very sorry that I'm uploading this chapter so late! I wanted to post it last week, I had edited it and was ready to post it, then my family and I had to evacuate because of fires in our area. We're safe at home now, and I have access to my computer again, so I wanted to get this chapter up as soon as I could, since I left everyone hanging. Again, I'm very sorry for the wait.  
Thank you all so very much for the lovely reviews on the first chapter! I love seeing what you all thought of this story so far, and I'm so pleased that so many of you said that you loved this story!  
One reviewer requested a few clarifications, so I wanted to post those here in case any one else wanted to see as well: when I said this story will divert from canon, I meant both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, so in this story, all of TO's fourth season did not happen, and all of TVD's eighth season did happen, with the obvious exception of Caroline's wedding. In this story, Caroline's season seven visit to New Orleans with the twins to find Klaus went exactly as it did in the show, with the addition of one detail I imagine happened off screen, which you'll see in chapter four. Also, the twins are three-years-old, and Hope (who you'll meet, if my outline remains accurate, in about five more chapters) is five. Future chapters will address more about all of these events and characters, so I'm glad you brought these things up-and thank you so much for your thoughtful review! I apologize for any confusion! If anything in the story is unclear, please do not hesitate to ask for clarification: I love that you're invested enough in the story to ask questions!  
This chapter isn't the most exciting I've written. It's like one of those flat escalators at airports-it's a people mover. Caroline has some thinking to do before she arrives in New Orleans, so I didn't feel right about fast-forwarding through it.  
I hope you enjoy chapter two!

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The more Caroline thought about it, the more she grew suspicious of Klaus's mysterious disappearance, and with two sleeping three-year-olds with her in the car, she had a lot of quiet time to think as she drove through the Carolinas.

She found it very hard to believe that Klaus Mikaelson, Original Hybrid and self-proclaimed King of New Orleans and the Supernatural World, could leave the city without anyone noticing or knowing where he was going, and simply vanish without a trace. And call her selfish, or say she's overestimating her place in his life, but Caroline thought that if Klaus was relocating to take over some other unsuspecting city, he would let her know, possibly in another voicemail message describing how much he loved the place and would love the opportunity to show her around some time.

Every other time Caroline had needed him, Klaus had been there for her. She'd sent him a graduation announcement, on a whim, and he had returned to Mystic Falls to attend the ceremony. Everyone else had been too relieved that he had saved Damon to question how had had gotten to Virginia so fast. Only she knew that he had come for her. Then months later, he had abandoned his revenge against Katherine, which had been ongoing for over five hundred years, because she'd implied that choosing revenge over a relationship with her was the wrong choice, and Klaus didn't even really have a relationship with her, not like the one Tyler had given up.

While she didn't think that she consumed his every thought, he had promised to be her last love; a promise he certainly couldn't fulfill if she never saw him again. And she knew from experience that Klaus kept his promises.

Whether or not she wanted him to keep this promise was a question for another time.

So maybe she was being paranoid, but she found the whole thing rather suspect. Why on Earth would Klaus disappear for three years? She knew he had the means to simply pick up and move to anywhere else in the world, but why would he want to? From what she remembered, even when Klaus was on the run from Mikael, he was never subtle enough to entirely disappear. He was social, wealthy, powerful-he made acquaintances, even some friends, anywhere he went. She wasn't sure exactly how long Klaus and Stefan had known each other in the '20s, but she knew it was less than three years. The Klaus she knew couldn't go that long without initiating some sort of power struggle. If Klaus was mysteriously "gone" with no forwarding address, who was reminding crowds of unsuspecting victims that he was the Original Hybrid?

Caroline liked to think she knew Klaus fairly well, and the idea of him silently leaving the city and then keeping such a low profile that no one had seen or heard from him in three years seemed at odds with everything Caroline thought she knew about Klaus's character. He wanted power, but he wanted his family safe more. The only reason Klaus would have left New Orleans would be if his family would have been at risk if he stayed.

Now that she wasn't in the desperate need for help she had been when she'd first been informed of Klaus's disappearance, she could admit that she was curious about what had happened to him and why no one knew where he was. Ever since she had left New Orleans the first time, she had been preoccupied with one supernatural crisis after another, in addition to the conflicts in her relationship with Stefan. She'd been forced to push Klaus's vanishing act to the back of her mind, but now she had nothing more pressing to attend to for the first time in what felt like forever. This was probably the best time for her to try to look for him, since she didn't need him for protection or for the cure for a werewolf bite. Her intentions were pure: she just wanted to know that someone who hopefully still considered her a friend was safe.

Alaric had been right that she needed time to grieve away from Mystic Falls. Both of her parents had died there, as had her first love and the man she had planned to marry, and so many others, from human history teachers, to werewolves, to Original vampires, to five-hundred-year old doppelgangers. She had run away from her wedding only to have her hometown attacked, and her ex-fiancé sacrifice himself to save his brother and his ex-girlfriend. Though she knew Stefan would never love her as much as he loved Elena, they had loved each other and she still felt devastated by this loss.

Caroline knew that her sudden interest in finding Klaus, which only arose after Alaric told her to mourn her losses away from Mystic Falls, was partly because she needed to think about something other than her own grief. Caroline was using this mission to find Klaus as a distraction, only the latest in her long history of fully devoting herself to a project in order to take her mind off of anything she didn't want to think about.

By the time they crossed over the Georgia state line, one of the twins was starting to stir.

"Mommy, where are we?" Josie asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"We are in Georgia, sweetie. Did you have a good sleep?" Caroline smiled.

The little girl nodded.

"Mommy, where are we going?" Josie asked, reminding Caroline of the last time she'd been on a road trip with the twins and Josie had asked the same question.

"Remember when we went to New Orleans, to visit Mommy's friend, only he forgot to tell Mommy that he was… going on vacation, so he wasn't there? We're going to see if he's back from his trip yet," Caroline explained, with minimal lying to make her quest seem reasonable to a three-year-old.

"The lady said he was gone, Mommy!" Lizzie chimed in. "Maybe he was taken prisoner by the evil king!" she suggested, inventing her own fairytale on the spot.

To Caroline, her daughter's theory didn't seem too farfetched. Klaus was sure to have made many enemies over the last thousand years. It wasn't surprising that one of them would want to get revenge.

Except Klaus was stronger than all of them, and unable to be killed. How could whoever had taken him been able to overpower him?

Caroline didn't like the idea of a defeated, weakened Klaus. Like a wild animal, when Klaus was cornered, he struck, doing anything he could to lash out at his captor. She knew that about him from experience, too. That was how she had ended up with her second hybrid bite, laying on the couch in the Gilberts' living room with Klaus, on the brink of death, certain that he was going to follow through with his plan for revenge against Tyler and let her die.

Caroline was worried now, her working theory of what happened to Klaus meaning that she was taking her children into a potentially very dangerous situation. Anyone who had been able to subdue Klaus could easily defeat her, leaving the twins with only their still unpracticed magic to defend themselves. However, she still felt obligated to at least try to find Klaus, since this was her only chance to try to do something good rather than just hiding away with the girls. Alaric had practically ordered them not to come back to Mystic Falls, and now that she'd come to the conclusion that something bad must have happened to Klaus, she felt responsible for helping him. He'd saved her life on multiple occasions, it felt only right for her to try to save him, especially if she was the only one looking for him.

"I think you might be right, Lizzie," Caroline told the girls conspiratorially. "Should we go try to rescue him?"

Both girls nodded fervently.

"This trip went from running away from my wedding, to running for our lives away from Katherine and her plan to destroy our home, and now it is a rescue mission to save Klaus. My life is crazy," Caroline said quietly to herself.

{ }

Bonnie called Caroline just after sunrise the next morning.

"Hey, how are you? Alaric called last night to say that the plan was a success, but that you were overwhelmed by all of the magic you had to use. How are you feeling?" Caroline whispered, trying not to wake the twins, who were still asleep in the backseat of the car.

"I'm okay, Care, just a little tired. But I saved Mystic Falls, so I think it's worth it," Bonnie responded quietly, following Caroline's lead. "Why are we whispering?"

"The girls are still asleep," Caroline answered. "If I could cheer for you without waking them up I would. You saved the world, Bonnie Bennett! You're the greatest!"

Bonnie chuckled.

"Thanks, Caroline. I haven't spoken to Alaric yet, I wanted to talk to you first. Did he tell you about…?" Bonnie trailed off.

"He didn't have to," Caroline said. "I already knew, and I called him to say goodbye. I told him I was sorry for how everything worked out and that I loved him. I'm still sad, and I'll still mourn him, but I said what I needed to say and I let him go without any regrets. I don't think he regrets his choice either."

"Still, I'm sorry that this happened. I wish I could have found a way to save the town without sacrificing anyone," Bonnie lamented.

"You still saved the town, Bonnie. You did what you had to do, and it isn't like you set out to hurt anyone. You can't blame yourself for Stefan choosing to sacrifice himself to save Mystic Falls, and Damon and Elena. It isn't your fault," Caroline assured her friend.

"You said that you called him to say goodbye; did that help you get some closure? I was able to talk to him, too, and I know he spoke with Damon as well, so I think it makes me feel better that he was able to hear how much we cared about him," Bonnie said.

"I think so, too," Caroline agreed. "So now that you've saved the world, what's next on the Bonnie Bennett to-do list?"

"I think that I need a break from Mystic Falls for a while. You're not there, Elena's in a magical coma, so many other people who cared about are gone. I want to live my life to fullest, not just keep watching people I love die," Bonnie said.

"When Alaric called me last night, he said that he thought you were going to leave Mystic Falls as soon as you could. Apparently, he, Matt, and Damon are working together to repair the town after Katherine's attack last night and its run-in with hellfire, and they want Mystic Falls to remain a supernatural-free zone, at least for now, so you, me, and the twins are essentially forbidden from crossing town limits for the foreseeable future," Caroline informed her friend.

"Seriously? As if we haven't risked our lives to save Mystic Falls again and again? Whatever, I guess now I really have no choice but to take a vacation. Where are you and the girls going?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline had not been looking forward to this part of the conversation. She wasn't sure exactly how Bonnie would react to her going to New Orleans, but she was sure it wouldn't be good.

"We're on our way to New Orleans, with Alaric's blessing. He was the one who suggested it, actually," Caroline told Bonnie.

"You're going to Klaus," Bonnie stated.

"Well, technically, I'm not sure if I'm going to Klaus, because last time I was there looking for him he wasn't there. But I think we're going to look for him. You are more than welcome to join us now, or whenever you get back from your vacation. I know that you don't like him, but I also know that he cares about me, and he can keep us safe, and those are things I really need right now," Caroline said.

"I get that, I really do. I just want to make sure that you and the twins are safe. It's probably safer for you and the girls, and me too, I guess, to be around other witches and vampires, rather than going back to trying to pretend there was no such thing as magic in a town full of humans without a clue," Bonnie conceded.

"Look, Bonnie, I love you, and I know you mean well, but I'm honestly a mess right now, and I'm trying to hold it together for the girls, but I have no clue what I'm doing. I am driving across the country with my daughters, whose father has essentially told us that we aren't welcome in our hometown because they're witches and I'm a vampire, so we're better off somewhere where that's more acceptable, or something. I need something to distract me from everything that I've lost, and I need something or someone that makes me feel safe, and he's both of those things. My parents are both dead, my former fiancé is dead, my best friend is in a magical coma, and you're leaving, too. I guess I always assumed that if I ever ran away from my wedding I would go to Klaus, because he loves me and he won't judge me, and the last time my daughters and I were in danger, the first person I thought of asking for help was him. I am not asking you to like him, but please just let me do this," Caroline pleaded, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"I love you, and I trust you to do what's best for you and your daughters. We'll probably never be best friends, but if he cares about you as much as you say he does, I'll learn to tolerate him. I'll try to meet you in New Orleans once I've decompressed from the magical exhaustion," Bonnie promised, telling her friend she loved her one more time before hanging up the phone.

Caroline told Bonnie she loved her too, and thanked her, feeling much more at ease with her decision to go to New Orleans now that she had her best friend's support.

{ }

Even though as a vampire she didn't need as much sleep as she had when she was human, Caroline was still exhausted when they finally crossed over the Louisiana state line later that morning. Now that she had a mission, she was determined to get to New Orleans as soon as possible. She drove through the night, with the twins sleeping most of the journey, though they had each woken up for a few minutes to ask where they were several times throughout the night.

Now she had been driving for over twelve hours, and she was almost there. The girls were both asleep, though they would be waking up soon, demanding food, water, a change of clothes, to get out of the car.

"Are we there yet?" Josie whined.

"Almost," Caroline assured her. "We should be there in about an hour, hopefully less."

Caroline was getting just as antsy as her daughters were. As she drove, she had come up with a mental to-do list of the most pressing things she would need to take care of once they arrived in New Orleans. She would need to find them some place to stay, get the girls something to eat, get herself a meal of the vampire variety, and then she would be ready to explore a city she had only been to once, looking for someone who didn't seem to want to be found, with two three-year-old witches making up the rest of her search and rescue team.

She thought again about Lizzie's fanciful suggestion that Klaus had been taken prisoner by an evil king. Part of her found her daughter's statement heartwarming: the little girl had so much faith in her that she was sure any friend of hers had to be the good guy. She also thought that the theory had more substance than just a little girl who loved fairy tales trying to make up a real one in her own life. What if the person who had taken Klaus wasn't just an enemy, but a usurper? What if he'd wanted Klaus out of the way so that he could take control of the city?

Her first suspect in Klaus's disappearance would be whoever was ruling the city in his absence.

Caroline acknowledged that she knew very little about this situation, yet she was still running full-speed towards it. She thought of all of the questions she would need answered before she could find Klaus, starting with who was ruling the city in his absence. Then she would need to find out if all of the Mikaelsons were missing or if just Klaus had disappeared.

Something must have happened to the other members of Klaus's family, or they would be looking for him as well, and with their power and wealth, they should have found him already if they were trying. Caroline reasoned that they were either with Klaus as victims of the same captor, or Klaus had daggered them for some reason and they were back in their coffins, unable to be freed until Klaus was found, or else they had escaped Klaus's fate and were on the run, which would explain why they couldn't look for Klaus. Whichever possibility was closest to reality, Caroline now felt responsible for the well-being of the entire Mikaelson family.

Thinking of the rest of the family brought Caroline to a topic that she generally avoided thinking about, but made her all the more determined to find Klaus.

Klaus had a daughter. The only thing Caroline knew about her was that she was about two years older than the twins. She'd never met the girl, and Klaus had only mentioned her briefly on the phone when they last spoke three years ago. He'd offered her hand-me-downs for the twins, but hadn't said anything else, keeping the conversation focused on Caroline, in true Klaus fashion.

So Caroline had to find Klaus, not for herself or for her daughters, but because as a girl who had lost her father too young, she couldn't stand by and watch as another girl lost her father too young. That girl needed her father to teach her how to ride a bike, and threaten her prom date, and cheer at her graduation. Things that Caroline's father hadn't done.

{ }

With every mile they drove closer to New Orleans, the twins grew more excited for their rescue mission, and Caroline got more and more anxious about what awaited them. For all she knew, the person who had replaced Klaus as leader of New Orleans was an evil tyrant who forbade child witches from entering the city.

Scanning the highway signs, Caroline saw that the next exit was the first that led into New Orleans. Not knowing where in New Orleans she wanted to go, she decided to take it and explore the city from local streets rather than a highway.

When they saw that they were approaching the off-ramp, the twins gasped excitedly.

"Are we there?" Josie asked.

"We are officially in New Orleans, girls!" Caroline announced. "What do you think?"

The girls insisted that they loved New Orleans, despite having only seen one highway off-ramp of it so far on this trip.

Caroline decided that she wasn't going to start her second search for Klaus in New Orleans at the bar where she had started her first. For one thing, she really didn't want to take her three-year-olds into a bar again, and for another, no one had been able to help her there, so it seemed like a waste of time to go back.

Everything Caroline knew about New Orleans she had learned secondhand from Klaus, Tyler, and Stefan. According to Klaus, New Orleans was a great cultural center for art and music that he had very much wanted her to see. Tyler had explored the bayou where the werewolves lived, so she knew where not to go, since the cure for a werewolf bite was currently missing in action. From Stefan she had learned about the bar with its magical protections where she'd started her search for Klaus last time. She wracked her brain for anything else Stefan had recounted, but couldn't remember anything.

She kept driving into the city, having a vague recollection about the French Quarter, scanning the streets for anything that reminded her of Klaus or any of his siblings. She told the girls to keep an eye out for anything that looked magical, hoping that between the three of them, they would find something.

Lizzie and Josie were getting restless in the backseat, complaining of being hungry and tired of sitting in the car. Caroline couldn't help but agree with them, and decided that they needed to take a break for their search to check into a hotel, freshen up, and get something to eat before continuing to look for Klaus.

{ }

Caroline drove into the parking lot of the first chain hotel she saw. She reserved them a room for the week, hoping that would be all the time it took to find Klaus, and if it took longer, she would move hotels anyway, wary of staying in one place for too long. If the hotel costs kept piling up, she would have to start compelling hotel rooms for them, and Caroline was always reluctant to use compulsion after her own traumatic experience. So for now at least, Caroline was prepared to pay for things honestly, sure that once she found Klaus he would offer for them to stay at his house, plus he had more than enough money to repay Caroline her travel costs on her trip to rescue him, and would probably insist on doing so.

After bringing the girls and all of their suitcases upstairs to their room, Caroline started to get all of them ready to start a more thorough search for Klaus. She left all of their bags packed in case they needed to leave quickly, just pulling out snacks and coloring books for the twins to occupy themselves while she got ready, and outfits for the three of them to wear.

Like she had the night before, Caroline strategically selected their clothing for the day. She wanted to make sure that all three of them were comfortable and didn't stand out from the crowds of people on the streets of New Orleans. On their cursory drive through the city, Caroline noticed that most of the pedestrians were wearing dark colors, no pastels or bright colors in sight. The warm layers she and the girls were wearing may have been appropriate for a late night escape from Virginia, but were much too heavy in the humidity of Louisiana.

Caroline went into the bathroom of the hotel room and quickly pulled on a deep raspberry pink blouse with a decorative bow at the hem and floaty cap sleeves, dark grey jeans, and flat black ankle boots, folding a dove gray cardigan and shoving it in her purse in case it got cold later. Then she chose maroon shirt with ruffles and dark brown corduroy pants for Lizzie and a plum button-up shirt and dark jeans for Josie.

After she and the twins were fed and changed, they were ready to start their search. Hanging her purse across her torso with the long cross-body strap, she held each of the twins by the hand as she led them back outside.

Caroline wanted to explore as much of New Orleans as they could on foot, since it would allow them to get the closest possible look at their surroundings. They walked for a while without seeing anything that seemed out of the ordinary, even passing the bar they had visited last time, but a quick glance in the window told them that the place was empty.

Nothing seemed suspicious until they were approaching a church, when suddenly a man burst out of the doors and walked right up to them, demanding, "What do you think you're doing here?"

* * *

Ending on a cliffhanger to make up for the less than action packed chapter!  
As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review!  
Thank you so much for reading!  
love,  
charlotte


	3. Chapter III: Let Me Tell You a Story

Hello and welcome to chapter three!  
This chapter will hopefully help explain some things and how (I've decided) Caroline feels about them. Now that we're in New Orleans, we've almost completely severed ties with The Vampire Diaries, with the exception of the promised return of Bonnie, who, if you ask me, deserves to get out of Mystic Falls just as much as Caroline does. This story won't follow any of the storylines from The Originals' fourth season either. In a few chapters, all storylines will be entirely independent of the shows and entirely my own creation, which will hopefully help to ease any confusion! Thank you all so much for your cooperation!  
Someone asked in a review if this entire story will be from Caroline's point of view. Thank you so much for your question! My answer is, most of the story will be from Caroline's point of view, but not all of it. In fact, next chapter we check in with Klaus!  
More good news: I've written Klaus and Caroline's reunion! It's in chapter six, so hopefully that will give you something to look forward to!  
Disclaimer: Caroline references the movie _Forrest Gump_. I do not own _Forrest Gump_ , though, fun fact, my father was watching this movie when I was born.  
Anyway, happy reading!

* * *

Caroline froze. As the man got closer, Caroline could see a decidedly angry look on his face, and her heart leapt into her throat as she wondered what she could possibly have done to cause this reaction and hoped he didn't try to retaliate against Lizzie and Josie.

The man approaching them had a cautious gait, his hands raised in a defensive gesture that somehow made Caroline feel slightly guilty even though she didn't know what she had done to make this man so angry. He had dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes, the whites of which almost appeared to glow.

He had a frantic sort of energy about him that he seemed to struggle to contain. He seemed unsure as he approached them, but not nervous. He held himself in a way that clearly was intended to project authority, but it reminded Caroline of her mother's lessons on how to survive a standoff with a wild animal: stay calm, and make yourself look as large and threatening as possible. This made Caroline wonder why this stranger was so wary of her already, when she hadn't done anything to him, and she wasn't physically imposing to anyone who didn't know what she was.

"You're a vampire," the man bit out in an accusing tone of voice. Well, that explained why he seemed uncomfortable around her.

"Yes, I am," Caroline responded, not seeing any point in trying to deny what the man clearly already knew to be true.

"This place is for the New Orleans witches. Vampires have hurt us enough; we aren't going to invite them inside," the man continued.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but we weren't going to go inside your church anyway," Caroline told him, since she assumed there was no possible way Klaus could be in a church of all places. "We're tourists; we're just exploring the neighborhood."

"You're only tourists exploring the neighborhood? You should explore another neighborhood and leave us alone!" he exclaimed.

Caroline was taken aback and automatically clutched the twins closer to her. She decided that she would have to consider what this man's vehement insistence that they weren't welcome in this area because she was a vampire meant for her search for Klaus. Did he want them gone because of a genuine distrust of vampires, or was he hiding something?

The man took a step closer to them, extending his hand.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I just get protective over the people I care about, and vampires have caused a lot of those people to die. You could be the nicest vampire in the world, and I still would have a really hard time learning to trust you," he explained.

"I understand, vampires have done some pretty terrible things to me, too," Caroline said. "But so have humans, witches, werewolves, and even hybrids, so I might just be a target for terrible things."

She thought for a moment about all of the times she had been kidnapped and tortured. There was a pretty even mix of species who had hated her for what she was or who her friends and loved ones were.

"Hybrids?" the man asked, alarmed. His tone of voice and facial expression told Caroline that he was familiar with hybrids, and was surprised that she was, as well.

"Yes…" Caroline answered, unsure. "I've been bitten by a hybrid twice. Two different hybrids, for the record. And then I had to agree to sacrifice one of them to try to save my best friend, and that worked as well as it could have, but I did feel bad about it later once most of the rest of them were killed."

The witch, who still hadn't introduced himself yet, looked at Caroline like she was trying to pass off a popular work of fiction as her autobiography.

"What do you mean the rest of them, and how do you know the Mikaelsons?" he demanded.

{ }

"Well, that's a long story," Caroline started. "I feel like we should start off with introductions, though, if you want me to tell you my whole life story. I'm Caroline Forbes, and these are my daughters, Lizzie and Josie Saltzman," Caroline introduced, gesturing to each twin as she said their name.

"Vincent Griffith," the man replied. "How old are they?"

"They're three," Caroline answered. "And if you were trying to subtly ask if they were mine, they are, but that's another long story."

"Let's hear about how you know the Mikaelsons, then you can tell me all about your little girls," Vincent proposed.

"I know I'm not allowed in your church, but are you sure you want to talk about this here, on the sidewalk, where any of your witch friends could see you fraternizing with the enemy?" Caroline asked.

Vincent considered this for a moment, then steered Caroline and the twins to a nearby bench and sat down. Caroline sat at the other end of the bench, with the girls between her and Vincent so that she could face him and still keep an eye on them.

Caroline wasn't sure who this man was or why he wanted to know her story, but she reasoned that, with his strong reaction to figuring out that she knew Klaus, he must know him and might even be able to offer some clues as to where he was. Caroline's plan was to tell him her story, leaving out the most sensitive information, like Klaus's last trip to Mystic Falls and how he had promised to be her last love. Then she could use him as her canary in the coalmine. If he was working with whoever was holding Klaus hostage, he would tell them her story and they would surely try to make sure she couldn't find him. If no one ever used the information she gave Vincent against her, she could safely assume he hadn't told anyone who would want to harm her, or he hadn't told anyone at all. In the ideal situation, what she told Vincent would also make its way to Klaus, letting him know, wherever he was, that she was looking for him.

"So, I'm guessing from your reaction to me introducing myself that you aren't exactly Klaus's confidante?" Caroline began.

"We aren't friends, no. I was possessed by his brother for a time," Vincent told her.

"Why would Elijah possess you?" Caroline inquired, assuming that the possession had occurred recently and not prior to the deaths of Klaus's other two brothers.

"He didn't, his brother Finn did," Vincent explained.

"Finn is back from the dead? I felt pretty awful about him dying," Caroline confessed.

"I didn't kill him!" Caroline insisted upon seeing Vincent's shocked face. "My ex-boyfriend did. We didn't know at the time that killing an Original also kills every vampire they ever turned, so I felt terrible that all of those innocent people died, too. That didn't stop Elena from plotting to kill Kol, though."

"Kol came back from the dead along with Finn and Esther. Kol is the only one of the three who is still among the living," Vincent said.

"I'm glad. Kol's death was really hard on Klaus. That's how I got my second hybrid bite," Caroline told him.

Vincent was looking at her like he couldn't believe she could so casually mention a near-death experience.

"He was hurt and he lashed out, but he cured me in the end, so I forgave him," Caroline shrugged, not seeing why something that had happened years ago was of such great concern to Vincent. "This happened, like, five years ago, I'm over it. Why do you look so shocked?"

"That's the most human I've ever heard anyone describe Klaus Mikaelson," Vincent said.

"I told him something similar at the time. Then again, I also told him I knew he was in love with me, and guess how well that worked out," Caroline said with a laugh.

Vincent's eyes went wide, looking like they were about to fall out of their sockets.

"Klaus doesn't love anyone outside of his family," Vincent insisted.

Caroline knew that statement to be false, but decided to downplay Klaus's attachment to her so that Vincent, who clearly wasn't Klaus's biggest fan, wouldn't hate her as well.

"Well, I know that now, I mean, not long after that, he got a werewolf girl who I hated, and who hated me in return, pregnant. That was humiliating to find out about. And I didn't even hear it from him! I blame the hallucination and delirium that come from hybrid bites for thinking that he actually cared about me," Caroline explained, knowing that her genuine resentment towards Klaus impregnating Hayley would help sell her sob story.

Vincent seemed to relax upon hearing this, as if learning that she too had an axe to grind with Klaus made her more relatable and trustworthy.

"Now I'm more curious and confused than ever. How do you know the Mikaelsons?" he repeated.

{ }

"When I was seventeen Katherine turned me into a vampire to be used in the ritual that would allow Klaus to unlock his werewolf side that his mother magically sealed away. I had been in a car accident the day before, so I was in the hospital recovering when Katherine, who I thought was my friend Elena because I didn't know about Katherine at the time, convinced Damon to give me some of his blood to heal me, then she snuck back in later to kill me, knowing I had vampire blood in my system. I didn't know any of this until after I had already turned into a vampire, the last thing I remember from my human life is who I thought was Elena smothering me with a pillow, then waking up alone in a hospital room craving blood and not knowing why or what happened to me," Caroline explained.

The twins looked up at Caroline, fully engaged in the story. Vincent looked confused, which surprised Caroline because they hadn't even gotten to any of the confusing parts of the story yet.

"Who's Katherine?" Vincent asked.

Now it was Caroline's turn to look surprised. She assumed that Klaus would have celebrated Katherine's death, which he wouldn't have known wasn't real at the time, when he got back home. Had Klaus really given up his revenge for her so completely that he didn't even gloat that a sworn enemy for five centuries was dead? And Elena had told her that Elijah had kissed her when he thought she was Katherine. After five hundred years of loving her, it made no sense that he wouldn't have mentioned her either.

"She's a doppelganger, and so was my friend Elena, so they looked exactly alike; that's why I thought Elena had killed me at first. You've really never heard of Katherine? Elijah's been in love with her for five hundred years; Klaus has been hunting her down for five hundred years. He needed the doppelganger's blood to break his curse, but obviously Katherine didn't want to die, so she escaped and turned herself into a vampire, rendering her blood entirely useless and keeping Klaus from completing the ritual. Seriously, neither of them have mentioned her? She's really important to both of them," Caroline explained.

She decided that Katherine would be her test. She was careful to talk about Katherine's exploits in the past and deliberately excluded any mention of her death, which would lead Vincent to believe she was still alive, having no reason not to. Nothing Caroline had told him was untrue, so he couldn't accuse her of lying later, but if he or anyone else in New Orleans tried to find Katherine, she would know it was because they wanted to use her against Klaus, and she would know their search would be futile. Plus, if whoever had forced Klaus to disappear from New Orleans was distracted, looking for Katherine, Caroline would have an easier time finding him.

"No, neither of them have ever said anything about Katherine, but as you pointed out, we aren't exactly best friends," Vincent told her, and Caroline could practically see the gears turning inside his mind. "Please, continue your story."

"Okay, well, Klaus showed up a while after I turned into a vampire. He had one of his witches kidnap me and my friend Tyler, who was a werewolf, but then our… friend Damon helped us escape because he was in love with Elena and didn't want her to die, so he was trying to postpone the ritual. That didn't work, because Klaus just used another werewolf and turned Elena's aunt into a vampire. Then Klaus left to make more hybrids, but he couldn't, so he came back and was able to turn Tyler, who was my boyfriend at the time, into a hybrid using Elena's blood. A little while after that, Klaus used his sire bond over Tyler to make him bite me, but then Klaus gave me his blood, and this really nice bracelet, because it was my birthday, and Klaus apparently loves birthdays, so I guess he felt bad about me nearly dying on mine. Are you with me so far? Are you sure you want to hear all of this?" Caroline asked.

"Let me see if I have this right: you were continually in the wrong place at the wrong time, so you ended up being collateral damage in the power struggle between Klaus and this doppelganger, Elena, and your friends?" Vincent clarified.

"Pretty much. Klaus told me I was collateral damage when he made Tyler bite me. I wasn't the only one caught in the crosshairs, I was just the only one that caught Klaus's interest, and the only one who tried to understand him and didn't just see him as evil," Caroline responded.

"You must be very compassionate and magnanimous to try to understand someone who tried to have you killed," Vincent complimented.

"I like to think so. Not long after that, the Mikaelsons hosted a ball, and he invited me, and I sort of gave him a piece of my mind, even after he was nothing but polite to me, yelling at him about how he doesn't connect with people because he doesn't try to understand them. Then the next day my friends made me act as the distraction for him while they tried to kill Kol, which of course didn't work, because none of Damon's plans ever work. He was mad and blamed me for that for a while. The next time I talked to him was at a school dance, where he told me he was leaving town the next day, except that didn't happen, because, long story short, a new super vampire Esther created held me hostage and tortured me at school and Klaus came to save me, and Elena, who had come to help, not knowing she was bait for Klaus," Caroline stopped to take a breath.

"This super vampire, could he have killed Klaus? And he saved you anyway?" Vincent asked, astonished.

"Well, technically, Elena created a distraction so I could get away, then I ran into Klaus, who ordered me to leave and promised to save Elena. But yes, he could have killed Klaus," Caroline answered.

"Then what happened?" the twins, eagerly listening to the story, demanded to know.

"I wasn't there for this, but Tyler, Damon, and… Damon's brother worked together to desiccate Klaus. Then my friend Bonnie, who's a witch, moved Klaus into Tyler's body without telling anyone she was doing it, so we thought Klaus was dead, and since we were all part of his sire line, we were all going to die, too. Except obviously we didn't. Elena died and became a vampire that night, too. After that, the town council, which is vehemently anti-vampire, found out about all of the vampires in town and we all got taken. Klaus saved me from that, too, but he was still in Tyler's body, so I didn't know it was him until later. Rebekah was with me, and she was so annoyed that she got left behind; I can only imagine how annoyed she must have been when she found out it was Klaus who left her and not Tyler…" Caroline continued.

"Wait, you're telling me that Klaus Mikaelson left a member of his family to be captured when he could have saved them, but he saved you instead?" This was the most disbelieving that Vincent had looked throughout her story, as well as the most alarmed. It was as if this example had finally confirmed for him how important Caroline was to Klaus.

"Technically, yes," Caroline hedged, trying to prevent Vincent from realizing the full extent of Klaus's feelings for her. "Rebekah's an Original, though, so they could have killed me pretty easily, but unless had the specific weapon that could kill her, Rebekah would be fine. Plus, he was possessing my boyfriend's body. If he'd brushed right past me to get to Rebekah, we would have been suspicious of Tyler."

Vincent seemed to accept this explanation, and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway, Bonnie put Klaus back in his own body, then we started working with Klaus against this vampire hunter, and to look for an alleged cure for vampirism. I already told you about Kol's death and Klaus biting me. I wasn't really involved in the search for the cure, so I can't tell you much about that. Klaus and I were among the only people involved who didn't want the cure. Then he got Hayley pregnant and moved to New Orleans. He came back at graduation to give Damon his blood after he got shot with werewolf venom bullets, and he saved me from some witches who wanted to kill me, but that's pretty much my whole story. We haven't really interacted much since then. He'll leave me a voicemail on rare occasions, we spoke on the phone when the twins were born, but that's it. That's all I have to say about that," Caroline finished, looking at the bench, feeling slightly offended when Vincent didn't react to her reference.

Caroline had intentionally left out a lot of the story, but she didn't want to tell Vincent anything too personal or anything he could use against Klaus. She liked Vincent well enough for someone she had just met, but she didn't trust him. She did trust Klaus, though, so she tried to protect him. Plus, some of her memories she kept too close to her heart to share with anyone, especially not a stranger whose motives were still unknown.

"That was a great story, Mommy," Lizzie said, breaking the silence.

"Thank you for telling me all of that," Vincent said. "You've obviously been through a lot."

"Haven't we all?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

"Then why are you in New Orleans? Are you here looking for Klaus?" Vincent asked.

Hoping the twins wouldn't say anything and blow their cover, Caroline shook her head.

"We're here because of an accident in my hometown. I had to get the girls out of there, so I decided to take them somewhere I've always wanted to go," she said. Everything she said was technically true, just not the complete truth. "Why, do you know where he is?"

"I couldn't tell you where Klaus, or any of the Mikaelsons are, I'm afraid," Vincent told her, but something about the way he said it made Caroline feel like he was hiding something.

"Well, thanks anyway," Caroline said. "We've taken enough of your time; I'm sure you have to get back to your meeting of the New Orleans witches, and I should get these two something to eat."

"You didn't tell me about them. I'll admit, I'm curious as to how a vampire was able to get pregnant and give birth to twins," Vincent hinted.

Caroline decided she didn't want Vincent to know that the twins were siphoners. She didn't consider them to be her secret weapons by any means, but if their magic could give them the element of surprise, she would keep their advantage to herself as long as she could.

"Next time," Caroline proclaimed with a smile. "You can't possibly have all day to listen to my stories. I will tell you this for now: it wasn't as simple as me getting pregnant and giving birth. Come on, girls."

Caroline took each of the twins' hands and walked away, but instead of turning the corner and continuing to walk, she pulled the girls behind her and motioned for them to stay quiet.

Caroline watched as Vincent walked in the opposite direction, waiting for him to get far enough away that he wouldn't be able to see them following. Caroline followed after him as he crossed streets and turned corners until he arrived at a gated house. He opened the gate just enough to slip inside, then closed the gate behind him.

Caroline was watching him walk inside when she saw the capital letter M on one of the walls.

M for Mikaelson. Vincent had gone into Klaus's house. But why?

Caroline decided it was too dangerous to go in while Vincent was there, so they would take a quick break to eat dinner, then explore the house once they were sure he had left.

Caroline told herself not to get her hopes up, but she couldn't help but think that her questions of where Klaus was, why he hadn't contacted her, and how he had vanished into thin air would all be answered if Klaus was being held captive in his own home.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
As always, I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and/or the entire story so far, so please leave a review!  
Thank you so much for reading!  
love,  
charlotte


	4. Chapter IV: Circumstances Have Changed

Here's chapter four!  
In this chapter, we finally check in with Klaus, and we meet Marcel. For the record, I actually like Marcel and think he's quite an interesting character, but this chapter is from Klaus's point of view, and obviously Klaus is not Marcel's biggest fan at the moment.  
And remember when I said that I'd changed one thing about Caroline's visit to New Orleans during 7x14? You get to see what that is this chapter. It isn't a major change, and I know from Tumblr and Twitter that I'm not the only one who wants to see this!  
I will stop chattering now and let you read, please enjoy chapter four!

* * *

Shackled and tormented, Klaus Mikaelson's world had shrunk to the small semi-circle enclosure in which he was magically contained. At first, he had struggled against his restraints, insisting that he was the King of New Orleans and that it was treasonous to hold him hostage in the city he loved and had built from the ground, raised through its infancy and its prosperous years. After a while, though, it was clear to him that he had made his bed and now he had to lie in it. He had sacrificed himself to save his family, and he would gladly make the same choice again. He just hoped that his sacrifice had been worth it; that they would be safe again soon, and that they could all be together again. For now, though, he just had to wait, and persevere, until the day that his family could come and rescue him.

Klaus had given up counting the days he had been trapped down here. The only thing keeping him going at this point was that every day he was here was another day his family was alive. He occupied his mind with thoughts of what the people he loved might be doing at that very moment. Today, he imagined, Hope had eaten some cereal for breakfast and then spent the morning playing outside. His siblings, he knew, were in their coffins while Hayley searched for a cure. And he wasn't sure what Caroline would be doing, but he supposed that she would be taking care of her daughters and helping save Mystic Falls from another supernatural crisis.

Marcel was with him, taunting him, when he heard Vincent calling Marcel's name urgently.

"We might have a complication," Vincent blurted out as soon as he was through the door.

"What is it?" Marcel asked, turning around to Vincent, granting Klaus a reprieve.

"There's a vampire looking for Klaus. I got her to tell me how she knows the Mikaelsons, and let's just say they have quite the history," Vincent informed Marcel.

Klaus could only sit silently and hope that Vincent wasn't talking about who he was sure Vincent was talking about.

"Would this vampire happen to be a pretty blonde, twenty years old at the oldest, blue eyes, about five foot eight, with two girls, both about three years old, one blonde, one brunette?" Marcel asked.

Klaus struggled not to react. There was no way they were talking about anyone other than Caroline. But how did Marcel know Caroline, since they couldn't have ever met? And what was she doing here, and why was she looking for him? As far as he knew, she was still with Stefan, so why was she so far from home, alone with her daughters?

Daughters who were now three years old. The only interaction he had had with them was hearing one of them cry over the phone when she was less than a week old. He had been down here for almost their entire lives. He didn't know what they looked like, what their personalities were like; he didn't even know their names. He wondered if they knew about him, if Caroline had ever mentioned him to them.

Vincent looked surprised.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"She's been here before, asking for Klaus Mikaelson. She was quite sure of herself, too. She seemed positive that once Klaus found out it was her looking, he'd come running to save the day for her," Marcel explained mockingly.

"Did you know that she was here?" Marcel asked Klaus, turning back around to face him. "Did you know that she was looking for you, wearing your name like some sort of shield that would protect her, not knowing that you were down here? She probably thinks you just left, and that you couldn't even be bothered to tell her you were leaving. She probably thinks you don't care about her anymore, but that isn't true at all, is it?" Marcel taunted.

Klaus couldn't stop a wave of self-loathing from crashing over him. Caroline had been here, looking for him, and he was nowhere to be found. He knew that she only would have sought him out if she needed his help, and he hated that the one time she had needed his help so desperately that she swallowed her pride and came to him, he wasn't there for her.

Marcel was completely right: if he had known that Caroline was looking for him, that she needed him, he would have done everything he could to help her, whatever the consequences to himself.

"Based on what she told me, that doesn't seem too far off," Vincent said.

Marcel stood back and turned sideways, so he could see Vincent and Klaus at the same time.

{ }

"Tell us what she told you, and we'll see how true it is," Marcel instructed.

Klaus didn't want to tell Marcel and Vincent anything about Caroline. He had managed to keep her a secret from all of his enemies in New Orleans so far. He wasn't ashamed of her, nothing could be further from the truth, he just thought that if only people he trusted implicitly not to harm her knew about her, she would be safer, and Caroline's safety was his top priority, along with his family's. If no one in New Orleans knew about Caroline and that Klaus would do anything to keep her safe and happy, no one would try to use her to get to him, and she would be free to live her life.

Right now, though, Klaus didn't have much in the way of leverage. Caroline was already here in New Orleans, and as far as he knew, she had no other reason to come to the city except for him. If he refused to tell them about her, they might assume that she was a threat and try to harm her, something he would never forgive himself for; or her children, which Caroline would never forgive him for. The best course of action was to provide them with the most vague, basic information, so that hopefully, they would leave Caroline and her daughters alone.

"She introduced herself as Caroline Forbes, and her daughters as Lizzie and Josie Saltzman. Are those their real names?" Vincent started.

"Caroline Forbes was the name she gave when she was here last," Marcel added.

"That's her real name," Klaus confirmed reluctantly. "I didn't know her daughters' names, though."

He'd suspected that if she had been given the opportunity to name at least one of the twins, Caroline would have chosen the name Elizabeth after her late mother, but the last Klaus had heard about the little girls from Caroline and Stefan, Caroline was intentionally keeping her distance, insisting that they weren't her children. Klaus had seen through her act immediately, and he wasn't sure how anyone else had fallen for it. Caroline was a natural caregiver: she formed strong emotional connections with people, and she wanted to care for everyone she loved. He was familiar with her attitude towards the twins because he'd been in their place. Whenever Caroline's natural goodness and compassion led to her making an emotional connection with someone she was told she shouldn't, she felt guilty and tried to convince herself she didn't care, even though she did. He was glad that she was able to overcome this in the twins' case, though he suspected that a large part of her decision to care for them was the recent loss of her own mother.

"She told me that Klaus has saved her life on five separate occasions. I don't think he's made that much effort for some of his siblings," Vincent recounted.

"Is that true?" Marcel asked Klaus.

Klaus thought it over. He'd saved her from Tyler's hybrid bite, the council when they had kidnapped her, his own bite while he'd been trapped in the Gilbert's living room, and the witches she'd killed to protect her friend. By his count, he'd only saved Caroline's life four times. Though Vincent was correct, Klaus never would have saved Finn's or even Kol's lives five times.

"I don't think so," Klaus gritted out. "I only count four times."

"Really? She told me you saved her from two hybrid bites, a super vampire who tortured her, a council of anti-vampire authorities, and some witches at her graduation. That makes five," Vincent said.

"I'm surprised she counted Alaric. She mostly got herself out of that one, I just told her to go home," Klaus insisted.

He'd been more than willing to save her life that day, but Caroline had already freed herself when he arrived at the high school. 'Walking into a certain death,' he'd called it at the time, but he'd done it nonetheless. He knew he would gladly walk into a certain death a thousand times over if that's what it took to save Caroline.

"Alaric is the super vampire? She didn't mention him by name," Vincent mused.

"That was his name," Klaus confirmed, leaving out the fact that he had returned from the Other Side, was now human, and the father of the twin girls Vincent had met that day.

"Wait a minute, did she say that she was from Mystic Falls? Because Klaus here took a trip to Mystic Falls once and came back very happy," Marcel interjected slyly.

Klaus was irritated that Marcel would use one of the best days of his existence to slander Caroline and try to make unsavory accusation against her character. He wasn't one to boast about his conquests when they meant nothing to him. He certainly would never say anything about the person who meant everything to him.

Vincent's eyes widened again. Klaus was sure they were about to fall out of their sockets.

"No, I don't think she ever mentioned the name of her hometown," Vincent said.

Klaus grinned internally. He was starting to think that Caroline has intentionally told Vincent just enough information that he would trust her, but kept enough to herself that she would have the upper hand. He'd always known that Caroline was so much smarter than everyone else in Mystic Falls.

"Did you turn her? Is she part of your sire line?" Marcel asked Klaus.

"I didn't turn her," Klaus said. "She is part of my sire line, though."

He was fairly certain that Caroline didn't know that Davina had separated Klaus from his sire line, even though Vincent and Marcel did know. Not for the first time since he had been trapped down here, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief that no matter what happened to him, Caroline would be safe.

"She told me that someone named Katherine, who she seemed surprised I didn't know about, turned her to be a part of the ritual that would unlock Klaus's werewolf side and turn him into a hybrid," Vincent explained.

Klaus had never talked to Caroline about her transition, but he had known all along that it had been Katherine who turned her, and that Katherine had done so in order to have a friend of Elena's be used in the sacrifice. He grimaced inwardly at the idea of Caroline continually being written off as Elena's friend when she was so much more than that and deserved so much better than being relegated to second class status after the doppelganger everyone in that town was so desperate to protect. The last time they had spoken in person, Caroline had expressed sympathy for Katherine, asking Klaus not to gloat over her death. He had once again been impressed by Caroline's compassion, knowing that in her place he would have been thrilled to witness the death of the person who killed him and left him alone and scared, turning into a vampire without knowing how or why.

"Who is Katherine, and why did she think we would know her?" Marcel asked.

"A doppelganger, apparently. That ritual requires the blood of a doppelganger, and this one managed to escape and turn herself into a vampire so that Klaus couldn't use her in the ritual. So Klaus vowed to get revenge, five hundred years ago, and he's yet to call it even. Caroline also said that Elijah had some sort of romantic relationship with her over the centuries. She thought it was strange that neither of them would mention her," Vincent explained.

Nothing Caroline had told Vincent had been untrue, though she had notably left out the fact that Katherine was dead. Klaus couldn't help but feel proud of Caroline's antics. She was using Katherine as a distraction, and he hoped that it was to make her search for him easier.

"Does she think that we're all a bunch of high school cheerleaders gossiping around a lunch table?" Marcel complained.

Klaus resisted the urge to laugh at the irony of Marcel's comment. Caroline had been a high school cheerleader, and was physically frozen in that stage of her development forever. Caroline was, and always would be, a social, communicative person who believed that talking things out was the best way to resolve any conflict. If Caroline had been present for the past few years, she probably would have insisted on Klaus and Marcel discussing each of their grievances with each other until they were able to agree on a compromise.

"Is what she said about Katherine true?" Vincent asked.

"It is," Klaus answered, since technically it was.

"Just start at the beginning and tell us everything she said; this interrogation is getting us nowhere," Marcel commanded.

"Okay," Vincent agreed. "She told me that this doppelganger, Katherine, turned her when she was seventeen so that she could be sacrificed during Klaus's ritual. She was hospitalized after a car accident and given vampire blood to speed up her healing, then the doppelganger, who she thought was a friend of hers who also happened to be a doppelganger, smothered her. Then when Klaus came to complete the ritual, she was supposed to be used in the sacrifice along with a friend of hers who was a werewolf, but then another friend who wanted to save the doppelganger freed them in an attempt to stop the ritual," Vincent paused for breath.

"All of this is true?" Marcel interjected.

Klaus just nodded. He'd never liked Damon Salvatore, but he was grateful to him for saving Caroline's life, regardless of his less than ideal intentions. Klaus didn't like the idea of even considering what his life would be like if he'd killed Caroline before he even got to know her.

Vincent continued, "She said that Klaus turned her werewolf boyfriend into a hybrid, then her hybrid boyfriend bit her and Klaus saved her life. She seemed to think it had something to do with her birthday. Then she talked about a ball, and distracting Klaus so that her friends could try to kill Kol, but their plan failed. Her story gets interesting again after that: apparently Klaus saved her from some super vampire creation Esther made and got desiccated in the process. A witch she's friends with moved Klaus into her boyfriend's body without telling anyone and he rescued her after she got kidnapped again, when Rebekah had been kidnapped, too."

So much of that part of the story revolved around Tyler Lockwood, who Klaus honestly hadn't thought about in years, not since he had come to New Orleans to confront him. For all he knew, his first hybrid was dead. He was disappointed that Tyler had turned against him and chosen his futile quest for revenge over Caroline, but for years now he'd had bigger problems than a hybrid who had managed to break his sire bond.

Klaus was also somewhat annoyed that Vincent had implied that Caroline's story wasn't interesting. Everything Caroline said was fascinating to him. And who was Vincent to decide whether or not a person's life story was interesting or not?

"Most of the rest of her story involves a cure for vampirism, but she didn't go into detail. She said she wasn't involved in the search for the cure because she didn't want it. I don't think there's anything else significant, just that Klaus attended her graduation and she seems to still feel some betrayal and resentment over Hope, but that's all she told me. She didn't tell me anything about her kids, so I want to see if I can find out more about how a vampire could give birth to twins," Vincent concluded.

Klaus mulled over what Vincent had said about Caroline's feelings towards Hope. He realized that he didn't know what Caroline knew about his daughter, or who had told her. He didn't even know she knew enough about Hope to feel so negatively about her. When Klaus managed to escape this place, his first priority would be to fix whatever had made Caroline dislike Hope so much.

{ }

"Did she say that she was looking for Klaus?" Marcel asked.

"No, but she did ask me if I knew where he was. I told her I didn't. She said that she was here because of some accident in her hometown, but she didn't say what it was, just that it wasn't safe for her and her daughters there anymore," Vincent said.

Klaus wondered what had happened in Mystic Falls that was so dangerous that Caroline had to leave, but he was pleased that she had come to New Orleans, to him, when she was in danger. He felt the crushing weight of guilt settle over him again as he realized that once again, he wasn't there for Caroline when she needed his help.

"You made sure that she didn't see you come here?" Marcel confirmed.

"I always make sure no one sees me come here," Vincent insisted.

"I wouldn't worry about her. A teenage baby vampire and two little girls aren't going to be able to find him here or undo the magic that's keeping him here. If she's even still here in the morning after talking to you, we'll steer her towards a dead end, or better yet, back where she came from," Marcel decided.

Klaus couldn't have asked for a better reaction. He had complete faith in Caroline's ability to find him and free him, yet no one else gave her the credit she deserved for her intelligence. He knew that Caroline would have a plan to rescue him, if that was what she intended to do.

"Let's go, I think we've tormented Klaus enough for one day," Marcel ordered.

Marcel and Vincent walked away, leaving Klaus alone with his thoughts. He waited until he could hear their footsteps fade away at the front gate.

{ }

Klaus considered all that he had learned about Caroline. For most of her story, he had been present, but he hadn't always known the full extent of her feelings.

He was pleased that Caroline still seemed to remember the times that he had saved her life fondly, which meant that she still saw the good in him. Even when it had been his fault that her life had been at risk in the first place, she still credited him with saving her.

Caroline had always been reluctant to show anyone that she cared about him, but from what Vincent had said she told him, Klaus could tell that she still didn't hate him as much as she wanted her friends to believe.

He had been surprised to learn that she felt so resentful towards Hope, since he still wasn't sure how much Caroline knew about her. Was it possible that she was upset that she hadn't heard about his daughter from him? Perhaps he should have told her that he was expecting a child the last time he saw her in person, but he had been afraid that she would have hated him if she knew. He supposed that he wanted to wait until he could reassure her that the baby wouldn't change anything, that he would still keep all of the promises that he made her. He'd been selfish, and now he was suffering the consequences.

Klaus didn't dare even consider the possibility that she was upset because she was jealous. Caroline knew full well how much he loved her; he had told her so when he had returned to Mystic Falls for her graduation.

Thinking of Caroline had been one of the only things to make him forget that he was a prisoner; one of the only things to make him even remotely happy. If not for the fact that she could be in danger, he was overjoyed that she was here in New Orleans, looking for him. He could only hope that she stayed safe while she was here, and that she found him soon.

He had hoped that Caroline would come to New Orleans of her own volition, because she finally was certain that she wanted to be with him, that she was ready for him to be her last love. He never could have predicted that Caroline would come to New Orleans seeking his help and he would be unable to see her because he was trapped in his own house. He would have never wanted her to have to save him; he wanted to be the one to always keep her safe. He was supposed to be the immortal, all-powerful Original Hybrid and King of New Orleans, and she was supposed to be his beloved queen who the entire city adored.

{ }

His musings came to an abrupt end when he heard light footsteps passing through the gate. He could detect three sets of footsteps, two lighter than the other one. He couldn't hear any of them speaking, so he couldn't be sure who it was. The footsteps weren't coming towards the dungeon where he was being held; in fact, they didn't seem to have any particular destination in mind. They were exploring the courtyard of the house, then the entire first floor before moving on to the second.

Klaus wasn't sure that they would find the dungeon, and he knew that the magic keeping him contained also made him invisible. Unless they could sense the magic and somehow undo it, he would still remain trapped here, even with potential rescuers in his own house.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the three people in the house kept exploring for quite a while without ever approaching the dungeon. Klaus was certain that they had examined the entire house, yet they never came any closer to him.

He had nearly given up all hope of them finding him when the footsteps started getting closer. He could hear them approaching, but he still didn't know if they would be able to see him, let alone free him.

"I don't see anything; can you? Or can you sense any magic, or however that works?" a voice asked quietly.

A voice he knew by heart and would always recognize.

Caroline was here.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading!  
As always, I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them! I would especially love to know how you felt about my interpretation of Klaus, as writing for him is more challenging than writing for Caroline. Is he in character enough? Please let me know!  
love,  
charlotte


	5. Chapter V: Lost and Insecure

Hello and welcome to chapter five!  
With this chapter, we return to Caroline's point of view and see what she and the twins were up to while we were checking in with Klaus last chapter.  
Thank you so much for your reviews of the last chapter; I loved reading them, and I love that you are interested and engaged in the story enough to ask such thoughtful questions! I have some responses for you here:  
To everyone who said I was mean or that they hated that I ended the last chapter where I did, I'm really sorry! There is a method to my madness, you just have to wait a little longer for the reunion. There are a few more things Caroline needs to see and process before they can meet, so we needed to see her perspective one more time before they meet.  
Someone mentioned that they were looking forward to seeing Klaus and the twins interact. Me too! They're going to spend lots of time together in upcoming chapters, and I've already modelled their relationship after one from another show I enjoy (I'd love to hear your guesses on whose it is!)  
Other reviewers said they were looking forward to more of the twins being cute, and using their magic to save Klaus. You will see both of these things happen very soon. I'm glad the consensus seems to be that you like the twins, I was kind of worried, since that storyline was so unpopular on the show, and we never saw much in the way of the girls' personalities, so it's been a challenge to write them as unique characters with their own traits.  
Last thing, a reviewer asked if Cami would be mentioned in this story. Honestly, I hadn't even thought of it until I read that review. I can't guarantee for certain that no one will ever mention her, but if she did come up, it would be quick and vague, like Vincent lamenting the loss of his friend. But he didn't mention her in chapter three, when he was talking about how vampires ruined his life and hurt people he cared about, and that would have been the time to bring her up.  
Thank you all again so much for your reviews, if anyone has any questions about the story, please ask them in a review and I'll answer them in the next chapter.  
Here's chapter five! (I apologize in advance)

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Caroline, Lizzie, and Josie waited for almost two hours for Vincent to leave the Mikaelsons' house. They spent that time sitting on a bench around the corner eating take-out for dinner, playing I Spy, then getting ice cream for dessert when the girls started to complain of boredom, only to end up sitting on the bench again, staring at the gates as if that would make Vincent leave faster.

They were tired and bored by the time he finally left along with another man. Caroline didn't get a close look at his face, but he was far more physically imposing than Vincent; stronger, and more confident; a dark shirt stretched over his muscular arms, and a wide grin that looked more menacing than happy.

She watched as they walked away together, fortunately in the opposite direction from where Caroline and the twins were hiding. Once they were around the corner and far enough away that Caroline couldn't see them anymore, she knelt in front of the bench the twins were sitting on.

The girls were swinging their feet, hands folded neatly in their laps, their wide eyes beaming up at her. One of Josie's shoelaces was dragging on the ground, and the collar of Lizzie's shirt was tucked under. They looked so small, and young, and innocent. They were only three years old. Klaus had been missing for almost their entire lives.

They had no idea what they were getting into. Then again, Caroline didn't know what she was getting into either.

"Are you ready for our rescue mission?" Caroline asked them.

They nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay, let's go. Remember to be quiet," Caroline instructed.

They quickly turned the corner. It was dark outside by that time of night, and the sidewalk was practically empty compared to the crowd that they'd waded through earlier that day. None of the few people on the street gave them a second look as the approached the imposing iron gate.

A paper sign on the gate proclaimed that the house had been condemned. The fine print on the page possibly offered an explanation on why, but Caroline didn't waste time reading it. She wondered if there was actually anything wrong with the house or if it was only meant to keep people away. She hoped it was the latter, as she was about to go inside with her daughters.

Caroline pulled the gate open just wide enough for her and the twins to slip through, then quietly tugged it shut behind them.

"Come on, let's look around," Caroline said quietly.

The house was dark and plain, wrapped around a square-shaped courtyard. Caroline knew that no one had been living in the house for years, and she could tell that it had been abandoned by how dilapidated the house appeared. A few of the walls were starting to crack a little in the corners, and the paint was starting to chip in places. The house somehow managed to be large and sprawling, yet also made Caroline feel claustrophobic, like she was in a jail cell.

Compared to the Mikaelsons' mansion in Mystic Falls, this house practically rustic. While the house Caroline had visited there was elegant and opulent, this house was just as large, yet far less fancy. Caroline couldn't imagine Klaus living here; couldn't imagine his presence filling up this house the way he reigned over his mansion in Mystic Falls.

Caroline and the twins thoroughly examined every inch of the courtyard. The open area was empty, save for a few abandoned plants and staircases that led inside. The lack of furnishing didn't stop Caroline and the twins from testing the floors for trap doors, listening for hollow sections that might be secret passageways. They worked carefully and systematically to make sure they didn't miss anything or alert anyone that they were there.

The idea of keeping two three year olds quiet while they searched Klaus's house for wherever Klaus himself was being held captive was more outrageous than anything Caroline could have imagined. Caroline had participated in some extravagant, ill-fated schemes, yet this was by far the strangest. At least with those plans, she was never the mastermind, and therefore not to blame for the plans' inevitable failure. Her role was usually limited to taking advantage of Klaus's interest in her to distract him so that Bonnie and the Salvatores could enact the rest of the plan.

Her plan to save Klaus was surely difficult and potentially dangerous for herself and her children, so the least she could do to try to ensure that the plan would work and that they would be safe was to remain completely silent so as not to alert anyone to their presence in the house.

Finding nothing in the small, square space, they traipsed up the stairs and investigated the staircase as well. Still not seeing anything suspicious or magical, they trudged back downstairs to explore the ground floor.

Caroline could tell that the girls were already starting to get discouraged. They had been there for less than an hour, and considering the size of the house, it would have been a miracle if they had found Klaus in such a short time. She knew that most of the twins' exhaustion came from the already long day they'd had and the upheaval in their lives over the last 48 hours. They were only three, and they had been uprooted from their home and taken across the country to a city they were unfamiliar with, then dragged into a stranger's house to search for him.

They carefully perused a dining room, a kitchen, and what appeared to be a living room or family room on the first floor. The layout seemed needlessly confusing, with wide hallways that didn't seem to lead anywhere and rooms that didn't seem to serve any purpose, with sparse furniture that didn't give any clues to their functions.

After scouring the entire first floor of the house, which included moving all of the furniture and appliances, lifting rugs and artwork on the walls, and tapping on the floors and the walls, they went back upstairs to examine the second floor.

The second floor had far more rooms than the first, all connected with one long hallway that followed the square shape of the house. Only a few of the rooms-one an office or study, the other a library-weren't bedrooms where the extensive Mikaelson family slept. As they went through the rooms, Caroline tried to determine which room belonged to which member of the family. Some were easy: a closet filled with an extensive collection of shoes made instantly clear that the room belonged to Rebekah, while others were so sparsely furnished and decorated that Caroline couldn't even guess who they belonged to.

They searched Rebekah's room, which somehow managed to look elegantly furnished, even with the brick walls; another room whose primary method of decoration seemed to be scarves, giving the room an exotic, bohemian ambience; and a third room that was so Spartan that the only decorating scheme seemed to be the forest green color that appeared in multiple places. The next room they looked in to was the one Caroline had been dreading.

The room had a rocking chair in the corner, and a crib next to it with a small wolf stuffed animal sitting on the pillow. This was Klaus's daughter's room.

"It's a baby's room," Josie whispered.

The room was frozen in time after three years. It was still a baby's room, even though years had passed and the little girl must be five years old now.

Caroline picked up the little stuffed wolf and gave it a squeeze, then quickly set it back down. She grabbed each of the twins' hands and pulled them out of the room.

They perused three more bedrooms that clearly had permanent residents, two bedrooms that clearly didn't, and an office.

The last room on the floor was Klaus's art studio. Unlike the other rooms that she and the girls had turned inside out to examine every inch of the space, Caroline felt uncomfortable going through Klaus's artwork. There was a landscape, a painting of a church, and a sketch of a girl who could only be Rebekah pinned to the walls, as if Klaus had only just finished them.

The girls had no such reservations. Out of the corner of her eye, Caroline saw the twins pick up a piece of paper and stare at it, then stare at her, then back at the paper. While Caroline would not be at all surprised to see that Klaus had drawn a picture of her, since he'd done it before, the girls would have never expected to see a drawing of her in a stranger's house.

The room was small; it took less time to search the room than it did to convince the twins to put down the art and leave the room.

After a thorough search of all of the remaining rooms on the second floor didn't yield any results, Caroline was at a loss as to what else she could do. They retreated back into the hallway, where they poked around more until they found, tucked into the corner, a small staircase leading up to an attic.

The attic was crammed with all sorts of miscellaneous furniture, knick-knacks, and a thousand years' worth of other assorted belongings that the Mikaelsons had accumulated. It was a challenge to walk around the attic without colliding with something, especially the twins, who were at just the right height to run headfirst into most of the furniture.

They investigated all of the sets of drawers, storage chests, and armoires, sifting through all of the possessions that Klaus and his siblings had acquired over the millennium. Though they took an incredibly interesting trip through the Mikaelsons' life, they didn't find any evidence of where Klaus was, or where his family was, or what happened to any of them.

Their examination of the attic took what felt like several hours, but in reality probably only took about three-quarters of one. At a loss, but having seen at least a dozen gorgeous, elegant evening gowns she'd love to wear, Caroline led the twins back down to the ground floor.

{ }

With their exhaustive search of the house complete, Caroline was certain that she was more familiar with the Mikaelsons' house than any of its residents. Standing in the courtyard again, Caroline surveyed the area one more time.

"There has to be something we're missing," Caroline thought.

The girls plopped themselves down on the ground, sitting cross-legged with their hands in their laps, looking expectantly up at Caroline.

Caroline had no reassurances, advice, or ideas to give them. As much as she hated the idea, she was starting to consider the possibility that Klaus wasn't actually there. She couldn't see anywhere else that they could look, and the twins were clearly exhausted, so she couldn't keep them in the house all night searching for some secret, hidden dungeon that may not even exist.

Dungeon.

That was it. That was what they were missing.

If Klaus was being held captive in his own house, he wouldn't be in his studio painting as if nothing was wrong, or in his bedroom sleeping soundly, or in his dining room eating a feast a compelled servant had prepared. He would be hidden somewhere where no one could find him, whether someone looking for him like they were, or pranksters looking to cause trouble. Whoever had imprisoned Klaus would have needed to put a lot of effort into doing so, and would have made sure that their plan was foolproof. They wouldn't have left Klaus somewhere where anyone could have stumbled across him.

Of course they wouldn't have found Klaus in his bedroom, or his dining room, or his attic. He wouldn't be comfortable; he was being held captive.

The Mikaelsons' large house had a courtyard and an attic. It made sense that they would have a basement as well.

Caroline started searching the courtyard again, focusing her efforts on the walls that framed the space. The girls shuffled after her sleepily, halfheartedly tapping on the walls at eye-level for three-year-olds. She looked for a hidden door or secluded staircase that led downwards to any sort of basement or cellar. She knocked on the walls looking for a door or a tunnel like they had with the floor of the courtyard.

In the far corner, next to the formal dining room and living room, there was a thin crack in the wall, which only looked out of place on the already crumbling wall because it was perfectly straight. Caroline took a few steps to her left and found a matching fissure in the wall. She pushed on the wall.

And the door slowly swung open.

{ }

Caroline took the girls' hands and led them through the doorway. The door had opened onto a dark and cold landing, with a staircase that descended into darkness. She could only see three stairs before the passage started to resemble a black hole. Caroline turned on the flashlight on her phone so that she and the twins could see where they were going.

There were only eight stairs before the passage led into a hallway that turned around a corner and led out of sight. If Caroline had ever conjured a mental image of what a medieval dungeon would look like, this would be exactly it. It was dank and depressing, and as they stepped onto the first stair, she could feel the temperature drop significantly.

The stairs were so steep that Caroline had to help the twins down each step. They made their way down the stairs as quickly as they could in the dark. When they made it to the bottom, the twins somehow recovered their energy and went running into the underground room.

The room was lit by a minimal number of torches, which gave the room a faint, golden light. The basement was longer than it was wide, with gates at each end.

Caroline and the twins searched the dungeon thoroughly and found nothing, but Caroline refused to stop looking. This place was her last resort; they had searched the rest of the house and found no trace of Klaus anywhere else. He had to be down here.

In fact, she was sure he was here, just as she'd known he was at that football field on the night of her graduation: she could just sense him somehow. It was like some strange type of magic.

Caroline stopped so quickly she almost collided with Josie, who was still searching the room along with her sister. How had it not occurred to her until now that Klaus might be hidden by magic?

She'd spent enough time in Mystic Falls to know that all supernatural schemes involved magic. A supernatural scheme to take down the Original Hybrid would have to include some very powerful magic or it would never work.

"I don't see anything; can you? Or can you sense any magic, or however that works?" Caroline whispered to the girls.

The girls reached out in front of them, holding their hands out for something that Caroline couldn't see. They looked a little like zombies, walking slowly with their hands outstretched as they surveyed the room.

This went on for a while, until the girls seemed to collide with an invisible wall.

"Here, Mommy, there's a magic wall here," Lizzie said.

"And you think he's back there, but the invisible wall is making him invisible, too? Can you use your siphoner magic on it?" Caroline questioned.

The twins nodded.

Caroline watched as the girls placed their hands on the invisible magic barrier and sat down, letting their hands slide down the wall until they hit the place where the wall hit the floor. She felt uncomfortable standing back and watching as her three-year-old daughters spearheaded Klaus's rescue mission, but she didn't really have a choice. The girls were witches and she wasn't. There was nothing she could do.

Before her eyes, Caroline could see a gap materializing between the floor and the invisible wall.

A wide half-circle opened up on the floor and kept growing in height as the girls siphoned the magic out of the invisible wall. On the floor lay a heavy black iron chain welded to a matching black iron gate, but she couldn't see what the shackles on the end were attached to.

In her wildest dreams and her worst nightmares, Caroline could have never imagined a scenario in which she would find Klaus held captive in his own house, hidden away behind an invisible wall and handcuffed.

Suddenly, Caroline couldn't think of anything more terrifying than seeing Klaus in person again after all of these years. She was so scared that he would see her, see the twins, and want nothing to do with them. She was scared that he would have moved on, that he wouldn't care about her anymore.

She could feel insecure human Caroline making her triumphant return, frantically planning ways to make a guy she was interested in like her. Although, to her credit, she'd never done anything quite as desperate as traveling across the country to find and rescue a thousand-year-old man whom she'd rejected at every turn.

She couldn't see him like this. As much as she relished the idea of saving Klaus after he had saved her so many times, she was scared of his reaction. She knew how to act when he was the one saving her, but she wasn't sure how she should behave when she was leading the rescue effort. She knew that being more comfortable with needing to be rescued than being a rescuer herself was setting a terrible example for her daughters, but she couldn't help it. Klaus was stronger, smarter, and older than she was, making him exponentially better at rescue missions. She resolved to not look at him or talk to him, not to allow the image of Klaus as weak or a victim into her head, if she could avoid it until he was free and back to being the powerful Original Hybrid that she knew and… well, she'd revisit the end of that thought later.

As the girls kept working, the wall eventually rose to the point that whether Klaus was sitting or standing, Caroline would be able to see him. Caroline's eyes widened in fear at the thought of looking Klaus in the eye after he promised she wouldn't have to again the last time she saw him.

She could only bring herself to look high enough to see a heavy, black boot with a manacle wrapped around the ankle.

They had found Klaus.

* * *

Have I said I was sorry yet this chapter?  
I promise, the first two words of chapter six are "Hello, Caroline." The wait is over next chapter.  
Anyway, thank you so much for reading!  
As always, I would love to hear what you thought of the chapter and of the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
love,  
charlotte


	6. Chapter VI: A Labor of Love

Hello, loves(:  
You asked, and so you shall receive.  
Here is the reunion you have all waited for. Thank you so much for waiting. To show you my appreciation for your patience, this chapter is almost twice as long as the last one.  
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the Disney princess movies or characters mentioned in this chapter (my VHS copies from the '90s don't count). I don't own the line I shamelessly stole from _Gilmore Girls_ and changed minimally to make it fit Klaus's perspective (the emphasis is mine). And I don't own any of the lines from _The Vampire Diaries_ that Klaus and Caroline repeat in this chapter.  
I really hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations, and that you love reading it as much as I loved writing it.

* * *

"Hello, Caroline," Klaus greeted her.

She refused to look at him. Her eyes snapped shut and she turned to face the door while her hands covered her ears.

The girls kept working on the wall until they had removed it completely. Listening to their soft whispers helped distract Caroline from the way Klaus was looking at her: like he had been lost in a desert for a century and she was an oasis; like he had been starving and she was a feast; like she was a queen and he was a knight eager to swear fealty, hopeful that she would give him some token of her affection for him to wear to show that he was her champion.

"I must admit, I had hoped that when we were reunited I would have received a more positive reaction from you, love, but I imagine you must be overwhelmed at the moment," Klaus continued.

Caroline conceded that he had a point. As stressful and overwhelming as the last few days had been for her, Klaus had been a hostage in his own home for the last few years. At the very least, she owed him some of her trademark optimism and compassion.

She dropped her hands, turned around, and opened her eyes, but she still avoided looking him in the eye.

"I must say I'm very pleased that you're here. Was I correct in my assumption that small-town life was not enough for you? Are you finally accepting my offer to show you everything I love about New Orleans? Then can I take you anywhere you want to go, show you the whole world that's out there waiting for you?" Klaus continued with a smirk.

He was sitting on the ground, chained to the iron gate behind him with chains attached to his wrists and ankles. He was wearing dark clothes that were wrinkled, torn, and stained: clearly the clothes he had been wearing when he'd been taken. This was why Caroline had wanted to avoid looking at him when he was in this state. What had happened to him while he was down here?

"Hello, Klaus," she replied. "Thank you for that trip down memory lane. It sure was great to revisit the greatest hits of Klaus and Caroline. If it was not already clear, we are here to rescue you. These are my daughters, Lizzie and Josie. They're siphoners, they're the ones who managed to remove the magic wall that made you invisible."

"Elizabeth is the blonde?" Klaus assumed. That was how Klaus's mind worked, Caroline marveled. He made connections quickly, without explaining his thought process out loud. He had no way of knowing that Lizzie was the blonde-haired girl, just as Alaric could not have predicted that she would have blonde hair when he named the all but bald infants in the hospital three years earlier. Caroline had always attributed the happy coincidence that the daughter who shared her mother's name also shared her hair color to serendipity, some sort of sign from the universe that she deserved a show of support after all that she had suffered. Evidently, Klaus seemed to feel the same way to be so sure that she had earned it.

Lizzie's head turned at the sound of her rarely used full name, her long blonde hair swishing over her shoulder. She heard the clatter of the iron chains as Klaus tested his newfound mobility without the wall restraining him further.

"Yes, she is, and it's the most serendipitous thing that's ever happened to me," Caroline confirmed.

Caroline knelt down to face her daughters.

"Can you two try to break those chains with your magic? I can't tell if they're spelled or I would try it myself," Caroline told them.

Josie and Lizzie each took hold of one of Klaus's arms and pulled on the chains.

"They're spelled, Mommy," Josie confirmed.

Once the girls removed the protective spell on the chains, Caroline stepped in and broke the manacles off of Klaus's wrists and ankles.

With his restraints gone, Klaus stood up next to her. Now that he was free, Caroline finally felt comfortable looking at him.

Klaus wasn't standing with the commanding, self-important posture she was used to. While his strength hadn't dwindled, and he was just as cunning as ever, he seemed almost brittle, like he could snap with one wrong move. He seemed wary, even more so than his usual levels of paranoia that he claimed came with the territory of being the most powerful creature on Earth.

His hair had grown out into a pile of curls on top of his head, and his usually closely-trimmed facial hair was unkempt, making him look tired and haggard. His eyes seemed darker, and even if the color hadn't actually changed, the shadow that seemed to hover over his face made him look haunted.

But when he looked at her, the shadow seemed to disappear. Klaus moved slightly so that he was facing her, and since he was a few inches taller than her, so he had to angle his head down a little to look at her directly. Even in the dark room, she could still see the small smile on his face that usually appeared when he looked at her.

Caroline felt the usual warmth that she'd felt in Klaus's presence ever since he had entered her bedroom to save her life the first time, not that she would have ever confessed that to any of her friends. It was a feeling she'd never experienced with anyone else: it was the feeling of unconditional safety and protection; the unshakeable confidence that her protector would always be smarter and more powerful than whatever scared or threatened her.

The feeling had only gotten stronger after Caroline had come to the conclusion that Klaus loved her. After that, not only was he capable of keeping her safe no matter the circumstances, he would have a self-centered motivation to do so. And as Caroline appreciated the feelings of unequivocal love, safety, and protection that Klaus made her feel, the guilt that she had once felt for enjoying his attention gradually lessened. Standing in front of him now, Caroline felt no guilt at all as she recognized the affection for her that he'd never successfully hidden still radiating off of him, even after all these years.

Caroline knew that she took Klaus's love for her for granted, but she'd never fully understand the extent of his feelings until now.

The girls stood on either side of Caroline, the four of them forming an odd sort of square. The girls' heights were only a little less than the length of Klaus's legs. They didn't seem to know what to make of Klaus. They were too young to really understand who he was, or what role he played in their lives; all they knew was that Caroline had told them that he was her friend.

"What do we do now?" Josie whispered.

The question jolted Caroline back to reality. Finding Klaus and freeing him was a huge part of their rescue mission, but they also needed to get him out of this prison without attracting any unwanted attention. He also couldn't just stroll freely around New Orleans. They would probably have to leave the city, at least for a while, though she didn't know where any of the rest of the Mikaelsons were. The next phase of their mission might be saving them.

Suddenly Caroline was overwhelmed with emotions. In the last few days, she'd experienced heartbreak, loss, grief, guilt, anxiety, worry, fear. She had been operating on sheer will power since they'd arrived in New Orleans, and now that they'd found Klaus, she finally felt her heart stop pounding and her mind stop racing. He was safe, and he was here with them.

"Oh my God, Klaus," she breathed, throwing her arms around his neck and letting her head fall onto his chest. His arms immediately wrapped around her waist, so tightly that she couldn't have moved even if she'd wanted to.

"It's alright, my love, we're alright. Everything's fine," Klaus comforted her.

They stood that way for several minutes before Caroline pulled herself out of Klaus's hold, Klaus only very reluctantly letting her go.

Caroline turned to face the twins, plastering a determined smile on her face.

"We have to get out of here without anyone noticing," Caroline explained. "Are any of your siblings here, too, or were you the only hostage?" she asked Klaus.

"I'm the only one here. The very, very abbreviated version of the story is that they managed to escape and are no longer in the city," Klaus answered.

"I knew that they weren't in New Orleans, I just didn't know if they escaped or you'd daggered them. I didn't even know until today that Kol was among the living once again," Caroline told him. "Okay, girls, let's go. This dungeon is creepy, let's get back up to the ground level, we can plan just as well up there," Caroline instructed.

They climbed the stairs and turned into the dining room. The girls scrambled into two chairs, while Caroline and Klaus opted to remain standing.

"Okay, so here's what needs to happen," Caroline started, snapping into Miss Mystic Falls, head of the dance committee, planning mode.

Klaus laughed, causing Caroline to shoot him a dirty look.

"How did I know that I'd find you at the helm of this ship," Klaus teased.

Caroline sighed and rolled her eyes.

"As I was saying," she continued pointedly. "We have to get out of here without anyone noticing, and to be safe, I think 'here' has to mean New Orleans, not just this house, at least for now. I have to go get our luggage, and my car, and check out of the hotel… Any suggestions on where to go? Any ideas where the rest of the Mikaelson family might be?" Caroline asked.

"My siblings are in their coffins, Hope's mother has them with her and Hope," Klaus said. "I have no idea where they are, and even if I did, I doubt they would be in the same place after three years. Sorry I can't be more help, sweetheart."

"Well, we'll add finding Hayley, Hope, and the Mikaelsons to our to-do list," Caroline said, not having time to wonder why Klaus had seemed uncomfortable mentioning Hayley. It wasn't as if Caroline didn't know about Hope, or that Hayley was Hope's mother, and even if she hadn't, Caroline's knowledge of the facts didn't make them any less true. "Okay, girls, I know you're exhausted, and you've gone through a lot over the last few days, but I need you to stay awake, can you do that for me?"

The twins nodded sleepily, rubbing their eyes and sitting up straighter.

Caroline turned her attention to Klaus.

"You can't exactly go traipsing around New Orleans, so you should probably stay here until the last minute. So, we're splitting up. Girls, you're coming with me to the hotel to get our stuff and check out, and then we're coming back here as quickly as we can. Is that okay with you?" she asked Klaus.

"Sounds good to me, love, but are you sure you want to juggle two children and all of your bags? I can supervise them here if you'd like," Klaus offered.

"Thanks, but the concierge at the hotel saw me with the girls when we checked in earlier, she might get suspicious if I check out less than twelve hours later without them," Caroline explained. "Plus, I need them to stay awake, and Josie here has been known to fall asleep when she hears your voice," she added with a small smile, knowing that Klaus would immediately know what she meant.

Klaus smiled in return, letting her know that he understood.

"As you wish, love. But I wish you wouldn't care so much about what strangers think of you. They really don't matter."

"Thanks for your input," Caroline responded. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Josie and Lizzie, please go out to the courtyard, hide behind the wall next to the gate so that no one sees us."

The girls ran out of the room, reenergized at the prospect of a new goal.

Caroline moved to follow them, when Klaus's voice called her back.

"Thank you for helping me," Klaus told her.

"Of course," Caroline replied. "You've saved my life enough times that I thought you were entitled to a rescue mission of your own. Plus, it always helps to know where you are, just in case I get bitten by a werewolf again."

Klaus nodded and smirked.

"Sound reasoning," he admitted, in a tone that suggested that he saw right through her "sound reasoning."

"And you made me a promise, before you left," Caroline whispered, her voice giving out.

Klaus's face fell, making Caroline realize that he thought she meant his promise to leave her alone and never return to Mystic Falls, so she decided she needed to elaborate.

"I made myself a promise, too," she continued. "When we got to New Orleans, I promised myself that I would find you. However long it takes."

Caroline turned and rushed out of the room before he could see the tears welling up in her eyes, leaving a speechless Klaus in her wake.

{ }

His queen had arrived.

That was the first thought that crossed Klaus's mind when he saw Caroline standing in front of him in the dungeon of his own home where he was being held captive.

Even before it occurred to him to feel free, or relieved that he had finally been released from his invisible prison cell, he felt the need to acknowledge that it was Caroline who had come to save him. Caroline was safe and healthy and accompanied by her twin daughters; and against all odds, earlier than he had hoped, and far more than he deserved, she was in New Orleans, in his home.

His queen was here, where she belonged, finally. He'd told her once that he would love the opportunity to show her New Orleans, his kingdom, and he'd predicted that she would come one day, and now the day was finally here.

Every time he had imagined their reunion, it had been under considerably happier circumstances. He had hoped that when he met Caroline in person again after so many years, she would be smiling, and she would happily claim her place at his side. He resolved to make it up to her once this was all over. He would show her everything he loved about New Orleans and make her fall in love with the city just as he had.

Now that she'd left with her daughters to retrieve their luggage and check out of their hotel, he had time alone to reflect on the events of the evening.

He knew that Caroline's plans for her life didn't include him, but they hadn't included children either, and he could see plainly that she loved her daughters, loved being a mother. If she wanted to, Klaus was sure that Caroline could love him, love being his queen. Plans changed all the time, especially for vampires, who had an infinite supply of time.

He still had many questions as to why she was here in New Orleans and not in Mystic Falls that he would need to ask her. He didn't know how she had found him, or why she had wanted to. She had potentially put herself and her children in danger, for him. She must know that he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her. How could she not know that he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her?

How could she just come here, with no warning, with her children, and trust him to protect them and keep them safe? How could she still have so much faith in him, even after everything he had done to her and to the people she loved?

However long it takes, she'd said, throwing the promise he'd made to love her until the end of time, or the end of their immortal lives-whichever came first-back at him. How could she care about him that much?

He knew they both knew how much he loved her, but he was fairly certain neither of them knew exactly how much she loved him.

He had lived a thousand years before finding the love of his immortal life. He could only hope that he would get to live at least another thousand years with her.

Thanks to his own experience, Klaus knew that vampires could live for a hundred, or even a thousand years without really _living_ for a moment of their immortal existences. He knew that the last few years without Caroline, or Hope, or his siblings hadn't felt like living to him. Even though he was immortal, he could never truly make up for that wasted time.

Now that he knew from Marcel that Caroline had visited New Orleans once before and had walked away disappointed, he was even more surprised that she would want to help him. He should have known that Caroline wouldn't hold his absence against him, even when she hadn't known the reason for it. She had told him once that she would never help him, but Caroline had a good heart, she could never turn her back on someone who needed her.

Just moments ago, Caroline had become overwhelmed by the magnitude of her emotions after she had found him. She had been in need of comfort, and she'd sought comfort in him. She had clung to him, looking for him to ground and reassure her, and he had gladly allowed her to seek solace in his arms. All he had ever wanted from Caroline was for her to be honest about her feelings for him. He knew that she had pretended not to care about him as much as she actually did, out of guilt, or out of loyalty to her friends, but here, with no one else present except her daughters, she showed him that even after years apart, when she needed comfort or support, when she needed to feel safe and loved, she knew that she could turn to him.

Her safety and happiness was more important to him than virtually anything else in the world, and the closer she allowed him to stay, the easier it would be for him to keep her safe and happy.

He had thought about Caroline often over the last few years, but he hadn't realized until he'd seen her just how dark and empty his life had been without her light. He had predicted that it might take her up to a century to decide that she wanted more from her life than Mystic Falls and its residents could offer her and come looking for him so that he could show her everything that the world had to offer, everything that she deserved. If it were up to him, the world would truly be her oyster.

His priority now was making sure that Caroline and her daughters were safe, whether they were in New Orleans or elsewhere. Caroline's plan was to leave the city to keep him hidden, but that didn't matter as much to him. He could defend himself, but three-year-old witches and a baby vampire were almost certainly weaker than anyone who might try to challenge them.

Klaus was surprised to admit, even to himself, that he actually liked the twins. He would have thought that his usual disinterest in children that weren't his own would apply, but that wasn't the case. He knew that they weren't biologically related to her, but he was glad that she'd come to terms with, and even appeared to thrive in, her role as their mother. The blonde girl, Lizzie, even almost looked a little like Caroline, her golden hair darker than Caroline's but lighter than his.

Their children gave Klaus and Caroline something else in common, a shared perspective. They were among the only immortal creatures to have children, and while Klaus could consult Hayley if he was inclined (yet he somehow never was), Caroline had no one, since Alaric couldn't possibly understand her position. Klaus and Caroline were the only two members of a very sinister club; the only two parents who had known, from the very first time they laid eyes on their children, that without significant supernatural intervention, they would outlive them. Their children were magical, yes, but they were also mortal. And while it was possible that Hope could become a vampire, or even trigger her curse and become a hybrid, Caroline's daughters couldn't complete the transition without becoming heretics, a supernatural anomaly that Caroline had already fought against.

He'd offered to watch them, wanted her to see him as a responsible parent and not the evil tyrant he still worried she saw him as, and she'd rejected his offer, though she had made it clear that her reason for doing so wasn't that she didn't trust him to take care of them. She was so important to him, and it was important to him that she trusted him with something so important to her.

They needed him to take care of them, since it was his fault they were in this situation in the first place, and they were helping him out of the goodness of their hearts, without asking for anything in return.

Caroline had a plan, he was sure, and he would do all that he could to help her achieve it.

As much as he trusted Caroline and her ability to put together a foolproof plan, Klaus was a leader and a schemer. He was much happier and more comfortable when he was the person who had created the plan. If anything, this experience would force him to learn to be content following someone else's lead.

Just because he wasn't the mastermind of this particular plan didn't mean that he couldn't make meaningful contributions. He started by thinking of places they could go that were out of the city, knowing that Caroline was unfamiliar with the area, probably only knowing what she'd seen on highway signs.

He had an idea of where he could take Caroline and her daughters where the four of them would be safe, and while he knew it would be stocked with necessities like blood bags and beds, he also wanted to bring some other supplies that might prove useful and some comforts of home.

He sped from the dining room, across the courtyard and up the stairs to his room, quickly throwing clothes, books, and other necessities into a suitcase. Then he went into his art studio and packed art supplies and his sketchbook, barely noticing in his haste that one of his recent sketches of Caroline, wearing the dress he'd given her to wear to her prom, was missing.

He rushed back downstairs with his bag, deciding that it would be better to use his large SUV as their getaway car, rather than the small hatchback he remembered Caroline driving. With four people and enough luggage for all four people, there wouldn't be enough room in Caroline's car.

He put the suitcase in the trunk and got in the driver's seat. If he couldn't be in the metaphorical driver's seat in this operation, it made him feel more comfortable to at least be in the driver's seat literally. He drove the car around, parked in front of the house, and waited for Caroline to return.

{ }

Caroline walked back to the hotel as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself or leaving the twins scrambling to catch up. They had to work quickly and get back to Klaus as soon as they could.

The streets were even emptier than they were when they'd arrived at Klaus's house, which didn't make sense to Caroline. Wasn't New Orleans supposed to be known for its parties at all hours of the day? Between the tourists, revelers, and vampires, shouldn't someone be out and about on the streets of the city at ten o'clock at night?

Caroline decided that she didn't have time to think about it.

They made it back to the hotel in less than ten minutes. The lobby was deserted except for a tired and bored-looking concierge at the front desk.

Caroline quickly shepherded the girls into the elevator and up to their room. When they got there, Caroline gave herself a mental pat on the back for deciding not to unpack their bags earlier, allowing her to just grab their suitcases and leave now.

Back in the lobby, Caroline approached the front desk to check out. When the person working there looked at her suspiciously, clearly not believing her excuse of a family emergency as their reason for checking out so soon, Caroline remembered Klaus's suggestion that she care less about strangers' opinions of her and simply ignored the young woman's judgmental looks and her unasked questions as she checked them out of the hotel.

She didn't have time to think up believable answers.

She left the hotel and led the girls to her car, fitting all of their luggage in the trunk of the car and strapping the girls into their car seats. She hoped that Klaus wouldn't feel the need to pack anything, because there was no more room in her little car for anything else.

When they arrived back at Klaus's house, there was a large black SUV parked out front.

Caroline panicked. They had come so close to succeeding in their plan, only to come up short right before they could leave. She looked in the backseat, and saw both twins fast asleep. She turned off her headlights and parked on the street behind the other car.

The driver of the other car got out of the driver's seat and made his way over to her. As he approached, she was relieved to see that it was Klaus who was walking towards her. Caroline got out of her own car and stood next to her door. Klaus reached the car and stood facing her, his hand on the roof, keeping her in place.

"Come on, love, we should take my car, we need the room for all of us and all of our belongings," Klaus decided.

"And I should just leave my car parked here?" Caroline challenged.

"I'll park it in my garage, you put your luggage and your children in my car and then we have to go," Klaus said.

"Okay," Caroline agreed.

She took her suitcases out of the trunk of her car and picked up the sleeping twins, still strapped into their car seats, and put them on the sidewalk behind Klaus's car. She handed her keys over to Klaus and loaded the luggage into his car. By the time she'd gotten the girls settled in the backseat, both of them still fast asleep, Klaus had returned, holding out her keys and opening the passenger door for her. When Caroline climbed in, she immediately turned to the side so that she could see the girls in the backseat and Klaus behind the wheel.

"So, where would you like to go?" Klaus asked.

"We have to find the rest of your family, and I have no idea where they are," Caroline lamented.

"I'm not sure where they are either, sweetheart, but I have an idea of where they may have been, where they may have set up a home base of sorts," Klaus suggested.

"Okay, let's start there," Caroline agreed.

They drove along in silence for a few minutes, until they had reached the city limits and turned onto the highway.

"Can I ask why you're here?" Klaus asked.

"In your car? Because you said that mine wasn't big enough," Caroline stalled.

"You know I'm asking why you're in New Orleans. Of course I'm thrilled that you came, I just don't know why," Klaus explained.

"I ran away from my wedding," Caroline answered. "And I guess I just always thought that if I were ever in that position I would come to you, but that whole day was so crazy that I didn't even really think about where I was going as long as it wasn't Mystic Falls, and then I remembered that you weren't here the last time I was, so I decided we had to find you."

Klaus turned to look at her, shock clearly written across his face.

"Will you tell me what happened? Why you left your wedding, and Mystic Falls?" Klaus inquired.

"Well, that's a long story," Caroline hedged.

"It's a long drive, love, we have time," Klaus responded.

"Alright then," Caroline conceded. "Stefan and I were engaged, obviously we were getting married anyway, so when Damon and Stefan found out that Katherine was planning something that would hurt Elena, they decided that in order to lure Katherine to Mystic Falls to try to foil her plan, we should move up the wedding. And because Stefan was given the cure, making him human, so we didn't have forever anymore, I was fine with it until they gave me this necklace of Katherine's to wear, and then I lost it and ran away," Caroline rambled.

Klaus looked over at her again, his expression equal parts surprised and concerned. Caroline took his obvious interest in her story as motivation to continue.

"Her plan was to destroy Mystic Falls using hellfire, and she had Elena spelled into the high school so she couldn't leave. I took the girls and just started driving, no destination in mind, I just wanted to get them out of harm's way, so we were already gone when this happened and I only heard about it secondhand. Then, apparently, Damon and Stefan fought over the dubious honor of sacrificing themselves to save Elena, because the only way to save her was to send Katherine to Hell right before Bonnie destroyed it using the hellfire, meaning that they would be destroyed by the hellfire, too. I'm still not entirely sure how that worked. Anyway, Stefan was the one to sacrifice himself because neither of them would leave without the other, or Elena, so now Damon gets to be with Elena when she wakes up from her magical coma and Stefan gets to be the hero who saved the girl, and his brother, and the town, and go out in a blaze of glory on what was supposed to be our wedding day," Caroline concluded.

"I'm sorry, I know you used to be friends. I know I probably ruined that, but still, I'm sorry," Caroline apologized.

Caroline still wasn't sure what had happened between Klaus and Stefan when they'd crossed paths in New Orleans a few years earlier, but she knew that they had little in common except their mutual acquaintances in Mystic Falls. Considering the comments Klaus had made to and about Tyler, she imagined that Klaus hadn't exactly given Stefan his blessing.

"Caroline, you really don't need to apologize for your fiancé's death, or for leaving to save yourself and your children," Klaus told her.

Caroline didn't have anything to say to that, so she remained silent, turning around completely to look at the twins sleeping in the backseat.

Then she couldn't handle the silence, so she started chattering again.

"After Bonnie saved the world, as she does, Alaric called me and told me that the twins and I were all but forbidden from returning to Mystic Falls because we're a vampire mother and her siphon witch children and he, Damon, and Matt want Mystic Falls to remain entirely human. And then he assumed that I was coming here to see you when it hadn't even occurred to me and then I felt like I just needed to be here. We drove all night and we got to New Orleans this morning, and I think you're all caught up now," Caroline said.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think you're handling all of the abrupt changes and losses in your life with remarkable poise," Klaus complimented.

"Thanks," Caroline replied. "I'm just trying to keep it together for the girls. They're only three, and everything they know has changed or disappeared. They're in a strange town, with a man they've only just met, in his car, driving who knows where, without their father, their supposed step-father-to-be, their hometown, and most of their belongings. The only constant they have throughout all of this is me, and the only constant I have throughout all of this is you," she said.

Klaus cleared his throat.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"You're always there for me when I need you," Caroline answered simply. "Your feelings towards me don't change, you don't prioritize anyone else over me, you don't treat me like I'm a placeholder for someone you like more. Every relationship I've had has ended because the person I was with considered something or someone else more important than me. With Matt, it was being human; with Tyler, it was his revenge against you; with Stefan, it was Damon and Elena. Even my father chose to die and leave me rather than live as a vampire like me, and my daughters' father forced us out of town because of who we are. You're the only one who's not only accepted that I'm a vampire, but encouraged me to embrace it," Caroline explained.

"I've always felt that's the least you deserved, so I have to say I'm rather appalled that so many people in your life made you feel like less than the most important thing in their life," Klaus told her.

Caroline resisted the urge to tell him that she couldn't be the most important thing in his life anymore, that that title had to be reserved for his daughter now. She wanted to stay in this lovely, happy place of complete emotional honesty and keep wearing her rose-colored glasses, at least for the rest of this car trip.

"Anyway, sometimes I even forget that we aren't normal humans. A lot of the time they're just ordinary three year olds, who love pink, and Disney princess movies, and twirling around in tutus. Then they'll do magic and I'll remember that they have more responsibilities, and more important goals than Josie trying to convince Lizzie that Belle is a superior princess to Aurora, which if you ask me, she is, but they never ask me. They really love the classic movies, even though I've told them repeatedly that damsels in distress who waited for their prince charming to come save them are not the greatest role models," Caroline rambled.

"Clearly," Klaus drawled, giving her a sidelong glance.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"They have been watching _Frozen_ a lot lately, so that's progress. They love that it has two sisters, and magic, so I think that's becoming a new favorite," Caroline continued.

If she had been told twenty-four hours earlier that she would find herself in a car driven by Klaus Mikaelson, telling him all about her daughters' favorite Disney princess movies, she would have told them they were crazy, that they must not know her or Klaus, because that situation would never happen. And yet, here she was.

Klaus looked in his rearview mirror at the girls, who were still asleep after their exhausting day. Caroline saw his eyes focus on Lizzie in the seat behind her, the little girl's head turned to the side, with her long blonde hair covering most of her face. Before Caroline could ask Klaus why he seemed so concerned about Lizzie, he turned his attention back to the highway stretched out in front of them.

"You should try to get some sleep as well. You've had a long, tiring day," Klaus suggested.

Caroline smiled wearily and wished him good night, before curling up in her seat and closing her eyes, trusting Klaus to guide them to their destination.

* * *

Well? Was it worth the wait?  
As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter (did you love the reunion as much as I hope you did?) and/or the whole story so far, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
Thank you so much for reading.  
love,  
charlotte


	7. Chapter VII: Welcome to Wherever We Are

I apologize in advance for the length of this author's note.

Thank you for all of your lovely reviews on the last chapters, I love reading them! I am always so excited when I see that someone says they like the story!  
There were a few comments in the reviews that I think other readers might benefit from hearing my answers to.  
To the reviewer and other readers who caught my hints about Klaus giving Lizzie extra attention, good eye! That will be addressed in this chapter, and then mentioned again in at least one later chapter. I promise, I'm not making you wait six chapters for a reveal anymore. The reason is a little cheesy, and a bit caveman-esque, but I don't think it's out of character for Klaus to think of.  
Another reviewer was concerned about the portrayal of Alaric in this story. Please allow me to reassure you that Alaric will not be abandoning the twins, and I'm very sorry to have given you that impression because that was not my intention. Here are some explanations that may help put your mind at ease: chapters one through six take place in approximately thirty-six hours, though it seems like longer because of all of activity; I think that this is an example of the perspective from which the story is told influences the story-since this story is primarily from Caroline's point-of-view, we see her interpretation of events and conversations, so while the conversation in which Alaric suggests that Caroline go to New Orleans, she sees as a personal rejection of who she is (because that's what she's used to), Alaric would have seen it as a great sacrifice to send his children away for their safety; and so far, the focus of the story has been on finding and rescuing Klaus, now that they've accomplished that, we can start focusing on less urgent, more permanent plot points, which will include Caroline and Alaric working out a custody agreement for the twins; lastly, it's just my bad, because considering his feelings for Caroline, Alaric's presence would hinder my ability to write the story I wanted to write, and going forward, he will have more of a peripheral presence in the story as the twins' father, but in most other respects, Caroline will largely extricate him from her life.

With chapter seven, we're moving on to a new phase of the story that I'm really excited to share with you. Chapters one through six were focused on the immediate goal of freeing Klaus, the next chapters revolve around less tangible, more permanent goals, like building relationships and seeking power.  
That said, we meet Hope, Hayley, and Elijah this chapter, and the rest of the Mikaelsons next chapter. I haven't felt as confident about my portrayals of these characters as I have about Caroline, Klaus, and even the twins. For Hope, most of my inspiration for her character (in appearance and personality) comes from season four of The Originals. Please remember that in this story though, Hope is five. With Elijah, I've tried to find a happy medium between the honorable, noble Elijah from The Vampire Diaries and the Elijah who only seems to value the lives of his family that we see on The Originals. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have disliked Hayley since her first appearance on The Vampire Diaries, but she's a big part of The Originals, so she's here in my story. While I've read other very compelling, well-written stories in which Hayley is evil and plotting against the Mikaelsons, and/or Hope isn't actually Klaus's child, I have decided not to do that in my story. I'm trying to keep her in character as much as possible, which to me includes showing some of her negative traits that the show glosses over and pretends don't exist. Also, I don't ship Hayley and Elijah, so that relationship won't be happening in this story. Not only do I think they aren't compatible personality wise, I think that dating your daughter's uncle/your niece's mother is setting up everyone involved to get hurt. And I have a friend whose father divorced her mother and then married her mother's younger sister, so I'm not just basing that opinion on these two characters. I'm very sorry if my not including this ship upsets anyone, and I sincerely hope that you will still read this story regardless.  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Disney princess movies mentioned in this chapter, either. Since it's only _The Little Mermaid_ , I don't even own a copy of it. From here on out, let's all please agree that Disney movies are the property of Disney, so that this can be the last disclaimer I have to write on the subject.  
Well, that went on forever. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. I have nothing else to say, so please read the chapter now(:

* * *

When Caroline woke up, the car was no longer moving.

"Caroline, wake up," Klaus whispered, reaching out and placing his hand on her shoulder.

Caroline groggily pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Are we there yet?" Caroline whined.

"Yes, we're here," Klaus chuckled.

Out the window, Caroline could see that the sky was still dark, which made it impossible for her to tell what time it was or how long she'd been asleep.

They had pulled up to a modest farmhouse surrounded by acres of uninhabited land. They were parked in the driveway of the white, two-story home, which featured a wrap-around porch, tan trim and shutters, and planter boxes full of pink, white, and yellow flowers on every available surface. It was a very pretty house, nothing at all like a property Caroline could have pictured Klaus owning.

"Where are we?" Caroline asked.

"The smartest thing Hayley could have done would have been to take Hope here. I own this house and set it up to function as a safe house of sorts. There are numerous protection spells on the entire property, its location is remote, and no one outside of my family knows where it is. We'll be safe here," Klaus insisted.

Caroline turned around to look at the twins, who were still asleep in the backseat of the car.

"Okay, just let me get the twins," Caroline stretched and unfastened her seatbelt.

Klaus darted out of the car, opened Caroline's door for her, then walked all the way around the car to pick Josie up out of her car seat. The little girl didn't wake up during the transition, her head falling onto Klaus's shoulder when he propped her on his hip.

Caroline shot Klaus a questioning glance, but otherwise didn't react to Klaus going out of his way to choose one of the twins over the other. She decided to write it off as Klaus feeling more comfortable with the twin he'd managed to make a brief, tenuous connection with years ago over the phone.

Caroline opened the other door and scooped up Lizzie, who immediately hid her face under Caroline's hair, their blonde hair falling together over Caroline's shoulder.

She decided to ignore the strange look that Klaus gave her when she turned around.

"Because of the protections spells on the house, each of you will need to be specifically given permission to enter. As the owner, I'm the only person who can do that," Klaus explained.

"I'm too tired to try to make sense of that," Caroline complained.

"You can go right back to sleep as soon as we get inside," Klaus promised as they walked up the porch steps.

Caroline was careful to stand next to Klaus on the side that he wasn't holding Josie, so that she could lean against him, too exhausted and overwhelmed to stand up straight.

"I wish I was still little enough that someone would carry me," Caroline sighed.

"Would you like me to leave your sleeping daughters to fend for themselves and carry you instead?" Klaus asked with a smirk.

Caroline just rolled her eyes.

Klaus adjusted his hold on Josie and walked over to one of the planter boxes full of flowers sitting on the porch. He lifted the planter, revealing the key that was hidden underneath it.

"You have all sorts of security and you leave your spare key on the porch like every family in small town America?" Caroline mocked.

"The planters are spelled; I'm the only one who can lift them. Anyone else who tries will find them unbearably heavy, and have such difficulty lifting them that they will assume they are attached to the porch," Klaus explained.

He took the key, then carefully placed Josie on the porch swing, before walking back to the front door and unlocking it. Once the door swung open, Klaus crossed the threshold and turned around to face them.

"Caroline Forbes, Lizzie Saltzman, and Josie Saltzman, you may enter my home. Please come in," Klaus pronounced grandly.

Caroline walked inside the house, still carrying Lizzie, who had yet to wake up. By the time she'd turned around, Klaus had rushed outside to pick Josie up and was standing with her in the entryway.

The interior of the house looked just like a normal family home. All of the first floor that Caroline could see had light wood flooring and cream colored walls. The room on their left contained a large table with twelve chairs, and on their right was a living room with a sofa, two chairs, and ottoman, and a television placed on a cabinet.

"Shouldn't they have heard us come in?" Caroline asked.

"I would have thought so," Klaus said. "Then again, I also thought all of the commotion would have woken up Lizzie and Josie, and they're still asleep."

"They can sleep through anything," Caroline informed him. "And they're exhausted. They've had a very long day."

"Let's get these two to bed, then we take a look around the house to make sure they aren't here before we make any other decisions," Klaus instructed.

They climbed up the stairs and opened the first door they saw on the second story, intending to put the twins into bed there. Instead, they found that the bedroom had already been claimed by someone else.

The walls were pale turquoise, the curtains were sheer white, the rug was turquoise, and the bedspread was white with a pattern of bright blue and yellow squares.

As they walked further into the room, they were surprised to see two people sitting on the floor behind the bed. One of them Caroline recognized as Hayley, and the girl sitting next to her drawing a butterfly with a blue marker, though Caroline had never seen her before, could only be Hope.

She had red hair, electric blue eyes, and freckles across her nose. Caroline could see Klaus in the look of concentration on her face as she drew.

Klaus was looking at Hope with obvious awe, like he couldn't quite believe she was real.

Caroline and Klaus were both so busy looking at Hope that they didn't notice that Hayley was staring at them, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

"We thought there was an intruder," Hayley began, gesturing to her and Hope's hiding place. "I can't believe it. How are you here?"

"Caroline and her children were able to remove the magic that was imprisoning me," Klaus explained briefly.

"But they're so young," Hayley marveled.

"It's quite impressive, isn't it?" Klaus praised.

Caroline had remained quiet during their conversation, not wanting to interrupt their reunion, and not knowing exactly where she stood with Hayley. There had been times when Hayley had been polite to her, but she'd also snapped her neck and left her in a public restroom and hadn't done anything to assuage Caroline's fears that Hayley had wanted to be with Tyler while he and Caroline were still together.

Hope had been watching her parents with wide eyes, and Caroline wasn't sure if she recognized Klaus or if she had been too young when they'd been separated to remember him.

"Hope, this is your father," Hayley told her daughter.

"Hi," the little girl said quietly.

"Hello, Hope," Klaus said through a strained voice.

"And that's Caroline," Hayley said, pointing at her.

"Hi Hope, it's great to meet you. These are my daughters, Lizzie and Josie. They're three," Caroline introduced, pointing at each twin as she said their name.

Hope blinked up at her, then said a very quiet, "hi."

There was a moment of tense silence, before Caroline decided to be the one to break it.

"I'm going to find a spare room where the girls can sleep," Caroline announced, walking out of the room. Across the hall, she found a sparsely decorated bedroom that must be a guest room. She set Lizzie down on the queen-sized bed, taking off her sneakers and tucking her in under the covers. Then she went back to Hope's room, took Josie from Klaus, and repeated the process with the other twin.

"I'll leave you three to catch up," Caroline said, leaving the room again.

She ventured into the bedroom next to the one the twins were sleeping in. The room had beige walls, white lace curtains, and maple wood furniture, with a brown, white, and pink floral patterned duvet on the bed. Using what she'd learned from her search of the Mikaelson's house in New Orleans, she was fairly certain that this was the room designated for Rebekah, but she was too tired to give it much thought.

She yanked her boots off and threw them next to the bed, then dove under the covers and went straight to sleep.

{ }

When Caroline work up, she couldn't remember where she was. She remembered falling asleep in the car. She must still be in the car, since she couldn't remember leaving the car. And somehow, the car had gotten much more comfortable overnight. In fact, if Caroline didn't know better, she could have sworn that she was actually lying in a bed right now.

She had been lying in a bed.

She was in a room with beige walls, white lace curtains, and maple wood furniture. She was covered with a brown, white, and pink floral bedspread, still wearing her blouse and jeans from the previous day, though her boots were on the floor next to the bed.

After Caroline quickly took inventory of the room, her heart leapt into her throat.

She'd woken up in a strange house, and she had no idea where her children were.

As she pulled herself groggily into a sitting position and oriented herself, the events of the previous day came rushing back. She was in Klaus's family's safe house, the girls were asleep in a nearby room, and Klaus, his daughter, and her mother were also somewhere in the house.

She jumped out of bed, yanked on her boots, and ran out the door and down the hallway.

Caroline found the girls in the room next to the one she'd slept in. She paused in the open doorway to see them sleeping side by side in the bed. The last forty-eight hours had been exhausting for them. Caroline checked the clock on her cell phone, noting that they had been asleep for over ten hours, and decided to let them sleep for a little while longer.

Caroline headed downstairs, looking for Klaus. She found Klaus, Hayley, and Hope in the living room. They were having a conversation before she walked in, but as soon as she entered the room, Hayley stopped speaking abruptly, and all three of them turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your family time," Caroline apologized quickly and backed out of the room. She heard Klaus call her name, but she ignored him and dashed back up the stairs.

Klaus came into her room only a minute later.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to monopolize your time. I know you haven't seen your daughter in years," Caroline said.

"Caroline, you know you're welcome here," Klaus said.

"I don't want to intrude or overstay our welcome. I rescued you and reunited you with your family. I did what I sought out to do, so as soon as the twins wake up we'll go," Caroline decided.

"You can't do that," Klaus declared.

"Why not?" Caroline asked.

"Your car is still in New Orleans, for one thing. And I worry that you may not be safe if you leave," Klaus confessed.

"You trapped us here?" Caroline asked incredulously.

"That was not my intention, love, I assure you, I only want to keep you safe," Klaus insisted.

"And what has led you to believe that I'm not safe? Or that I'm not capable of keeping myself safe?" Caroline demanded.

"I heard what you told Vincent," Klaus informed her. "About me, about Katherine, about Tyler, and Stefan, and Damon. He knows that I care about you, and he isn't on my side, he's on the side of the person who locked me up in my own dungeon. They will try to use you to hurt me, and I can't let you get hurt in the process."

"I'm sorry, he confronted me and I didn't have time to make up a story, plus I worried that the twins would dispute what I said and blow my cover. I left out a lot of the details, and I purposely tried to downplay how you felt about me, but I'm sorry, I didn't realize how complicated your situation was," Caroline said.

"I know you didn't know, I didn't expect you to. I don't mean to scold you, I just want to make sure that you and your children never become casualties in the wars that I am fighting," Klaus replied.

"Well, I appreciate that, I think," Caroline said. "Who is he?"

"Vincent?" Klaus asked.

"No, the person who locked you up in your own dungeon," Caroline corrected.

"His name is Marcel Gerard. I first met him when Elijah, Rebekah, and I first traveled to what would become the city of New Orleans that you know today. I adopted him, I suppose you would say. I gave him his name, I raised him, and later he turned on me. He took my city from me. When I returned, I was thrilled to learn that he was still alive, but he'd grown accustomed to being king. After years of fighting on all fronts, I was eventually left with no choice but to turn myself over to him in order to save my family," Klaus told her.

"I'm sorry," Caroline said, having no words that could lessen the pain in Klaus's eyes as he spoke of his adoptive son.

"Mommy?" Lizzie asked, wandering into the room.

"Good morning, honey, how did you sleep?" Caroline asked, picking her up.

"Where are we?" the little girl asked, rubbing her eyes.

"We're at Klaus's other house," Caroline explained.

Lizzie lifted her head up off of Caroline's shoulder to look at Klaus. She blinked her wide eyes at him, then leaned away from Caroline and stretched her arms out towards him.

"And it looks like Mom has been replaced," Caroline joked as Klaus took her daughter from her. "You don't have to cater to her every whim, she's more than capable of standing on her own. Feel free to give her to me or put her down if you get tired of carrying her," she said.

"She's an angel, Caroline," Klaus assured her, not looking away from Lizzie's face.

Caroline looked at Klaus holding Lizzie, and when she saw them together, she understood why whenever Klaus looked at Lizzie, especially when Caroline was holding her, he wore a facial expression that resembled a combination between longing and heartbreak.

Lizzie's long golden blonde hair cascaded down Klaus's arm, a shade darker than Caroline's and a shade lighter than Klaus's. Lizzie's soft blue eyes were a shade not at all dissimilar to Klaus's.

Lizzie wasn't biologically related to either of them, she carried none of their genes, but she looked like she could be their daughter.

Caroline was surprised by the intensity of her reaction to this realization. Five years ago, she would have thought that the idea of Klaus having a child was ludicrous, yet today, she not only knew it was possible, but she found herself almost disappointed that she wasn't the one that he had children with.

And if the way Klaus had looked at her while she was holding Lizzie last night was any indication, he appeared to feel the same way.

Caroline's reverie was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. She automatically moved to stand next to Lizzie, framing the girl between herself and Klaus.

When Hayley walked into the room seconds later, it was clear that she had the same thought process that Caroline had just had. Caroline imagined that with her standing next to Klaus, with him holding Lizzie between them, the three of them looked like a supernaturally beautiful golden-haired family.

"Your daughter is waiting for you," Hayley told Klaus.

She looked at Lizzie, perched on Klaus's hip.

"This is Liz, right?" Hayley asked.

Caroline stiffened. She couldn't tell if Hayley had genuinely forgotten which nickname for Elizabeth her daughter was called, or if she was being deliberately malicious.

"We call her Lizzie, actually. My mother was called Liz," Caroline explained, determined not to let Hayley see her upset.

"Sorry," Hayley offered. "We should go downstairs."

In the living room, Hope was sitting on one end of the couch. Klaus sat next to her, setting Lizzie down next to him, then gesturing for Caroline to sit on Lizzie's other side. From her perch on a chair next to the couch, Hayley studied them with an uncomfortable stare.

"So, Hayley, is red hair common in your family?" Caroline asked, trying to end the awkward silence.

"What?" Hayley asked.

"Is red hair a common trait in your family? I just thought that it must be, since I've met all of the Mikaelsons and none of them have red hair," Caroline explained.

"I wouldn't know; I've never met most of my family," Hayley answered. "And you haven't, actually."

"My family recently learned of the existence of our long-lost older sister, who we had presumed dead," Klaus explained. "Her name is Freya, she's a witch, and she has blonde hair."

"Wow, another sibling! Is she… with the others?" Caroline asked.

"She's here, and so are Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol," Klaus said. "It's a long story, but I'll just say for now that they have sustained some magical injuries that must be cured."

"Are these injuries the type that the girls can help with?" Caroline asked.

"How can they help?" Hayley inquired. "They're so young, how do they already have such advanced magic to free Klaus and save the rest of the family? I mean, Hope is so strong and has such powerful magic, but she struggles to control it. What is it that the twins can do that she can't? Can they teach her?"

"Wow," Caroline said to Klaus, shaking her head. "It isn't enough that your thousand-year-old, dead, vampire genetic material can produce a miracle child, of course that child has to be a powerful witch! And she must have the werewolf gene as well, since both of her parents have it…It really is go big or go home with you, isn't it?" she teased.

"And she can create hybrids," Hayley interjected. "She's very powerful."

"I see," Caroline said.

Lizzie took this opportunity to lean over Klaus so that she could see Hope on his other side.

"Mommy, she looks like Ariel!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Both Klaus and Hayley looked at Caroline, silently demanding an explanation.

"It's a Disney princess movie, _The Little Mermaid_. Ariel is the main character, she has red hair," Caroline told them. Klaus and Hayley nodded in understanding.

"Never give up your voice," Caroline advised Hope.

Hope just giggled and said, "Okay."

Just then, Josie timidly shuffled into the doorway.

"Good morning, Josie, did you sleep well?" Caroline greeted.

"Josie, look, she looks like Ariel!" Lizzie told her twin excitedly.

Klaus pulled Lizzie onto his lap and scooted over to sit next to Caroline, leaving Josie space to sit between him and Hope. Josie quickly sat and studied the girl sitting to her right.

"She does look like Ariel!" Josie agreed.

"Klaus, do you think they can help?" Caroline repeated.

"I think that it's worth a try," Klaus said.

"Can one of you tell me why you think Lizzie and Josie can help, when Hope and witches decades older than they are couldn't help?" Hayley asked.

"The twins' magic works differently than theirs," Caroline started to explain.

"Okay, well if you think they can help." Hayley conceded reluctantly.

She stood up and left the room, directing the twins to follow her. Caroline followed, and Klaus started to leave the room as well, pausing when he noticed Hope still sitting on the couch.

"Why don't you come along with us?" he suggested rather timidly.

Hope stood and approached him, taking his hand as they followed Hayley and the twins up the stairs.

{ }

In the attic were four coffins in an evenly spaced line across the middle of the room.

"Who should we start with?" Caroline asked.

"Elijah," Klaus and Hayley blurted out simultaneously.

Caroline leaned over towards Klaus, one hand on his shoulder to help keep herself balanced, the other against the side of her face to try to keep Hayley and their daughters from hearing what she said or reading her lips.

"Are they…together?" Caroline asked.

"They had a rather complicated relationship, but they did have romantic feelings for each other, yes," Klaus answered.

"And are you okay with that? Because I would totally understand if you were jealous about your brother being in a relationship with the mother of your child, or if him being a quasi-stepfather to your daughter made you uncomfortable," Caroline admitted.

Klaus pulled Caroline around to face him, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Caroline, I do not have, nor have I ever had, any romantic interest in Hayley. I tolerate her and try to get along with her for Hope's and Elijah's sakes. We will always have a connection to each other through our child, but that is all," Klaus insisted.

Caroline just nodded stoically.

"Is that some sort of male vampire trait? Women becoming more attractive after they've had a romantic or sexual relationship with your brother?" Caroline asked, genuinely curious after her own experience with Elena and the Salvatores.

Klaus laughed and shook his head, seemingly relieved that Caroline was no longer interrogating him on the nature of his relationship with Hayley.

"As far as I'm aware, it isn't a species wide affliction," Klaus replied.

Hayley was focusing on the coffins and ignoring them, so Caroline couldn't be sure if she'd heard them.

"Then it's just the Mikaelsons and the Salvatores who have trouble understanding the bro code?" Caroline confirmed.

"I've only ever seen Damon and Elijah struggle with the concept," Klaus agreed.

"And Klaus?"

"Yes, love?"

"Please try to make more of an effort to interact with your daughter. You've been missing from her life for a long time, she has to get to know you again. I will try to keep the twins from getting too attached to you. Hope had to be your first priority. She's your family," Caroline said, the unsaid 'and we aren't' hanging silently between them.

With that, Caroline walked away from Klaus, moving across the attic to stand in between her daughters.

{ }

Caroline watched as Lizzie and Josie worked to remove whatever magical poison Elijah had been subjected to (she hadn't been listening when Hayley had explained).

Contrary to the snide comments Damon would have made if he were here, Caroline wasn't upset or offended Hayley and Hope's presence in the safe house. In fact, she was grateful that they were there, or it would have felt too much like a family vacation with just her, Klaus, and the twins. She was using Hayley and Hope as buffers, and as an excuse to keep her distance from Klaus.

As much as the twins seemed to like him, Caroline had to remind them, and herself, that they weren't a part of Klaus's family. And as much as she might resent them for it, Hayley and Hope were. Klaus may have planned for her to be a part of his family in the distant future, but there certainly wasn't a place for her now, and she didn't think there would be a place for the twins ever. The twins had a father, and it wasn't Klaus. When Caroline thought over what Alaric had told her when she'd left Mystic Falls with the girls so that she could explain it to them, she realized that he hadn't rejected them or forbidden them from returning to Mystic Falls-the hurtful conclusion she'd immediately jumped to as a result of her own experience-he'd merely suggested that they might feel safer and happier somewhere else, where they would be accepted for, even respected for their magic, rather than tolerated in spite of it. Alaric was, as always, trying to do the right thing for the girls, just as Caroline wanted Klaus to do the right thing for his daughter. Right now, she wasn't Klaus's priority, his daughter was, as she should be, and that meant his daughter's mother, who Caroline was pretty sure had hated her in the past and maybe still did, was a permanent part of his life.

Knowing that Klaus had a daughter in the abstract had been much easier than knowing Klaus's daughter. It was easier to feel betrayed and upset by the existence of a hypothetical little girl. It was much more of a challenge to resent Hope, a timid, artistic, red-haired, blue-eyed five-year-old wearing an apple green sweater with a smiling puppy on it.

Hope was standing silently next to her mother, who had her hands clasped in front of her mouth. Caroline wondered if Hope thought it was weird that her mother was in a relationship with her uncle, or if they'd even told her. Then she decided that as far as the Mikaelson family's secrets went, this was a relatively tame one.

Caroline had been studiously avoiding looking at Elijah as the twins tried to revive him, but Hayley's expression implied that they were getting close.

A few minutes later, she heard him gasp for breath and heard Hayley whisper his name. She pulled the twins back so that they wouldn't get in the way of their reunion. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Klaus move to stand next to Hope so that he could be close when Elijah opened his eyes.

From their place against the wall, Caroline and the girls watched as Elijah pulled himself out of his coffin and stood facing Hayley and Klaus. He shook Klaus's hand before pulling him into a hug, then hugged Hayley.

"You found the cure," he praised her.

"Sort of…" she said.

Klaus turned Elijah around to face Caroline and her daughters.

"Miss Forbes, what are you doing here?" Elijah asked.

"Hello Elijah, it's nice to see you again," Caroline started. "My daughters and I were forced to leave Mystic Falls, so we came here, helped Klaus escape from the dungeon, and then freed you from your coffin. Actually, that gives me too much credit. The girls are siphoners, they rescued Klaus, and then you, I just drove," Caroline tried to joke.

"Well, I am very grateful for your help," Elijah said formally.

"Lizzie and Josie, this is Klaus's brother and Hope's uncle, Elijah Mikaelson. Elijah, these are my daughters, Lizzie and Josie," Caroline introduced.

Elijah surprised Caroline by kneeling to the girls' heights and shaking their hands.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, and I thank you for your assistance, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Josephine," Elijah announced grandly.

Josie looked up at Caroline, confused.

"Her name isn't Josephine," Caroline told Elijah, who had already moved away to greet Hope.

"When he says Josephine, he means you," Caroline told Josie. "I'll try to explain it to him."

"Can they heal the others?" Elijah asked Klaus and Hayley.

"It can't hurt to try," Hayley said. "Right? And if they can't do it, then I can continue tracking down werewolf packs."

Klaus approached Caroline and the twins.

"What's the most magic they've ever done at once?" Klaus asked.

"Yesterday, when they broke you out of prison," Caroline said, unable to help herself from laughing a little at the ridiculousness of that sentence and of the changes in her life over the past few days.

He knelt down facing the twins.

"How are you feeling?" he asked them. "Are you tired, do you need rest?"

The girls insisted they were fine, which was more than enough for Hayley and Elijah to start deliberating over which Mikaelson would be revived next.

"Are you all right with this?" Klaus asked Caroline.

"No," Caroline said simply. "Bonnie died from overexerting herself with her magic several times. I won't let that happen to them."

"Then we'll wait. Or they can channel Hope, she's a powerful witch, they can supplement their own magic with hers," Klaus suggested.

"I can't let you risk your child's safety," Caroline insisted, just as Hayley yelled, "Don't you dare suggest using Hope as a pawn in your plan!"

"All of this is for Hope," Hayley continued. "There's no point if she gets hurt in the process. Nothing is more important than keeping her safe."

"And nothing is more important to me than keeping my children safe," Caroline declared. "I want to help all of you get your family back, but I won't endanger my children to do so."

Hayley looked properly chastened as she met Caroline's eyes.

"Then we will come up with a plan that will ensure the safety of all of the children," Elijah ordered. "Hope is family; she is protected by our promise of always and forever. We will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. However, we must also keep Caroline's children safe. We need their magic and we are asking for their help. The least we can do is avoid putting them in harm's way if there's any way we can avoid it."

"We will wait until tomorrow," Klaus decided. "We ask the twins to revive one member of our family per day until they have all recovered. Then we will decide what to do next."

* * *

Thank you so much for reading!  
As always, I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
love,  
charlotte


	8. Chapter VIII: Secrets Don't Make Friends

Hello friends(:

Thank you all so much for all of the reviews on the last chapter. I love reading them! I know I say that every chapter, but the reviews on the last chapter were amazing! I am so fortunate to have such smart, thoughtful, articulate, insightful readers who are willing to take the time to tell me what they think of my writing! This story now has 60 reviews in total, which is more than I ever hoped I would receive. So thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed this story, whether you've reviewed once or every chapter, whether you left compliments or constructive criticism, I appreciate it all and thank you with all my heart.

There was a question in a review about whether or not the twins' magic would permanently cure the Mikaelsons', and the answer is yes, the cure will be permanent. Perhaps this only makes sense in my head, but the way I see it, once the twins have siphoned the magic out, whatever was hurting them has no power anymore, and it's sort of like a vaccine? Like how I get a flu shot every year, which is made from a weak or dead flu virus. So the Mikaelsons have dead, magic-less venom and hexes inside them, but they're dead so they can't hurt them. I hope that makes sense; if it doesn't leave a review and I'll try to come up with a better explanation for when I upload the next chapter.

We meet the rest of the Mikaelsons in this chapter, which I'm really excited to share. I'm working to reestablish relationships in this chapter, both among the Mikaelson siblings and between Caroline and the Mikaelsons. The dynamic between Caroline and Rebekah has been fun for me to write-I'm trying to recreate their relationship on _The Vampire Diaries_ , in which, they weren't friends and they snapped at each other a lot, but they seemed to have a grudging respect for what the other had been through and acknowledged the other's importance to Klaus. I've decided that they're going to be friends in this story, because I think they have similar temperaments and interests and could be good friends if they chose to be. So they're choosing to be friends because I want them to be.

I think that's it? Will I ever write a short author's note? The world may never know.  
Here's Chapter Eight, enjoy!

* * *

"Of course you're here," was the first thing Rebekah Mikaelson said when she opened her eyes after three years of being kept in a coffin. Her eyes had fallen on Caroline, and a familiar look of smug disapproval had marred her pretty face.

"Hi Rebekah," Caroline greeted her in response. "If seeing me is such a hardship, I'd be happy to shove you back in your coffin."

Rebekah pulled herself out of her coffin, landing next to Lizzie, who hadn't moved since healing Rebekah.

"Who's this pretty little girl?" Rebekah asked, her tone instantly warmer than when she'd addressed Caroline.

"That's my daughter Lizzie," Caroline told her. "Her twin Josie went downstairs to check which of their Disney movies Hope decided to watch today."

"You named her Elizabeth after your mother," Rebekah stated softly. "I was sorry to hear about her passing, Caroline," she said formally, then in a more friendly tone, she added, "It seems morbidly fitting that the only evenly matched adversary of a woman too strong to be defeated by all sorts of supernatural forces was something insidiously human."

"Thank you Rebekah," Caroline said, touched by the other blonde vampire's words.

"Don't mention it," Rebekah said briskly. "I can't have people thinking I actually like you," she said, her voice still dripping with the probably-sarcastic-but-it-can-be-hard-to-tell tone she usually adopted when speaking to Caroline.

Hayley and Elijah had been watching their exchange as if it was a game of tennis.

"Are they always like that?" Elijah asked his brother.

"That was practically an emotional heart-to-heart for those two," Klaus answered. "Neither of them made any sort of comment about the other's alleged promiscuity. I think that might be the nicest Rebekah's ever been to Caroline."

"That's not true; one time she stopped me from cutting my hands off," Caroline interjected. At Klaus's stunned expression, she added, "Silas brainwashed me, Bonnie had dropped the veil, and Matt, Rebekah, and I were stuck at the Grill. You had already left for New Orleans."

"That's disturbing," Hayley interrupted.

"Imagine being the one with the knife in your hand," Caroline retorted. "Then again, he also staked me and tried to kill my mother, so in the grand scheme of things, a little blood wasn't so bad."

"When did that happen?" Klaus asked.

"After you left. Rebekah was there, actually. It was when the Salvatores were trying to get Elena to turn her humanity back on and we were trying to make sure Matt passed all of his classes. I went out to go get some snacks and class notes, only to be stopped by who I thought was you," Caroline explained.

"Me?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, you. I only figured out it was Silas after he said something that Elena had just said to me, then he staked me and tried to kill my mother, but I gave her some of my blood and she was fine," Caroline concluded.

"Why didn't you tell us Silas had shown up?" Rebekah asked.

"That was the day Elena turned her humanity back on, remember? And since Damon planned for Matt to die in order to make it happen, they were the top priority," Caroline said.

"What did Silas say that convinced you he was me?" Klaus asked.

"Why are we even talking about Silas, that was ages ago? We have more pressing concerns now, like waking up Freya and Kol, and planning what we're going to do after that," Caroline deflected. "I'm going to check on Josie and Hope."

She found the two girls in the living room watching _Hercules_.

"Do we like Meg?" she asked them.

Both girls nodded eagerly.

"I like her. She's strong, and funny," Hope said.

Hope had warmed up to Caroline significantly since they'd met. Caroline recognized some of the traits she most admired about Klaus in Hope: she was clever, creative, persistent, and resourceful. She had both of her parents' stubbornness and determination. Caroline still wasn't sure if Hope actually liked her or if she just accepted her presence in the house.

Klaus and Lizzie came into the room next, Klaus standing in the doorway and Lizzie tumbling onto the couch next to her sister.

"Caroline, would you come with me please," Klaus's steely eyes made clear that it wasn't a request.

"Hades requires my attention. Have fun, girls," Caroline said, causing Hope and the twins to giggle.

Caroline followed Klaus up the stairs and into the guest bedroom the twins had been sleeping in. She turned to face him, mentally preparing herself for the interrogation.

{ }

"We need to talk," Klaus said, closing the door behind him.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Caroline joked.

"What? No, I'm not," Klaus said, perplexed.

"Then you used a cliché first line of a break up speech to start a conversation about what?" Caroline asked.

"Everything you haven't told me," Klaus responded. "It isn't just Silas, you didn't tell me that you'd come to New Orleans before, and you didn't tell me that you hated Hope."

"I don't hate Hope. I like Hope, a lot. She's polite, kind, smart, creative, and I think that the fact that she only identifies with Ariel because of her hair color is a great compliment to the values that you and Hayley have taught her," Caroline explained.

"Then why did you tell Vincent you didn't like her?" Klaus questioned.

"I didn't even know Hope when I spoke to Vincent, and I never told Vincent that I hated Hope."

"Right, you only told him that you resented her and felt betrayed by her existence. How is that better than hating her?"

"Because it wasn't about Hope!" Caroline exclaimed. "It wasn't personal. My feelings had nothing to do with her."

"So you reacted so strongly because of me," Klaus stated.

"The more nuanced feelings were because of you. My reactions to Hayley have never really progressed passed mild dislike. I know that she's a fixture in your life, so I will try to get over it, and I will always be polite and cordial to her, even when we disagree," Caroline promised.

"Why don't you like Hayley?" Klaus asked.

"You mean aside from how she told us yesterday that the twins' lives weren't as important to her as Hope getting her family back? And the time she snapped my neck and left me in a public restroom so that I wouldn't interfere with the slaughter of twelve hybrids, which she'd exchanged for information on her own family? I know that she's been on her own for years, and that becoming a werewolf and dealing with all of the anger and aggression that comes with it can't be easy, but I can't imagine ever becoming so callous and unfeeling that I could do some of the things she's done. I'm still pretty sure that my boyfriend cheated on me with her, even though he insisted he didn't. She's always treated me like I was a stupid, stuck-up Barbie doll who existed solely to prevent her from getting what she wanted. She manipulated you and Tyler into killing twelve hybrids for her own selfish reasons, and then never had to face any consequences for it. If anyone else had done that, you would have killed them, but with Hayley, you slept with her, got her pregnant, making her the mother of the world's most powerful witch-werewolf hybrid child and the keeper of the Mikaelson family in your absence. It feels like the universe is mocking me, by continually taking people I love away from me and piling accolades on someone that has always seen me as competition and has always won," Caroline ranted.

"I'm sorry that you don't like my daughter's mother, Caroline. Most days I'm not particularly fond of her either, but I can't change that she's Hope's mother. Ideally you will find a way to separate your like of Hope from your dislike of Hayley. But something tells me that the reasons you just gave for disliking Hayley are not the only reasons you feel betrayed," Klaus said.

"I shouldn't," Caroline started. "I have no right to be upset about this, which of course makes me even more upset because then I feel upset about being upset on top of the reasons I feel upset."

"Which are?" Klaus prompted.

"You promised," Caroline told him, the strong façade she'd been holding up, mostly so the girls wouldn't see how much this trip affected her, finally falling. "I don't resent that I'm not your first priority; I understand that your children always have to be the most important thing in your life. But you told me, when you came to my graduation, you promised me that you wanted to be with me, and that you would wait for me to be ready to be with you, and that once we were together we would be together forever. And I never expected you to sit at home pining for me, and I know you didn't expect that Hayley would get pregnant, but the whole thing just brings back insecure human Caroline, who tried so hard to make people like her but was always the second choice. Then I start thinking that if you'll sleep with someone else, then you might date someone else, then you might be in a relationship with someone else, then you might fall in love with someone else, and then all of a sudden you aren't waiting for me anymore and I might not even know about it until I show up and you tell me to go away because you've found someone better and I'm not welcome anymore!" Caroline cried, pent-up tears rolling down her cheeks.

Klaus's reaction was not at all what Caroline expected.

He laughed.

"Stop laughing!" Caroline whined.

Klaus's mouth snapped shut mid-laugh.

"I'm sorry, love, but that idea is just so preposterous," Klaus said.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline, love, have you ever known me to say something I didn't mean? Have I ever broken a promise I made you?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Caroline conceded.

"Then it stands to reason that I made a promise to you, having considered the consequences of doing so, and have every intention of keeping it," Klaus said.

"That's my point! I know that you'll intend to keep your promises, but you can't guarantee that you'll feel the same way about me in the future," Caroline insisted.

"I'm certain I can, but I'm also certain that I'll never convince you of that, so I'm just going to move on. What did Silas say that convinced you he was me, and why didn't you tell me about it, you could have called me?" Klaus asked.

"He said that he never meant to leave without saying goodbye, that he'd tried to stop thinking about me but he couldn't, then he invited me to come to New Orleans with him," Caroline confessed.

"All of which seemed to you like things that I would say," Klaus concluded.

Caroline just nodded.

"Don't feel bad, love. Silas once had me convinced he was you, and he didn't put in nearly as much effort," Klaus told her.

"So what else do you want to know?" Caroline asked.

"When were you here before, and why?" Klaus asked.

"It was earlier this year, and I needed help and you were the only person I trusted to keep them safe," Caroline said.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you needed me," Klaus apologized.

"Your record is still pretty good," Caroline said with a small smile.

"Come on, there's something I want to run by everyone," Klaus said, taking Caroline's hand and leading her downstairs.

{ }

In the living room, the girls had finished their movie and had started another one. Caroline laughed as she saw _Tangled_ playing on the TV screen while the girls took turns brushing Rebekah's long blonde hair.

"They made me take a nap while they watched _Sleeping Beauty_ ," Caroline told her.

"My hair hasn't been brushed in three years; I could use the help," Rebekah replied.

"Did you at least ask permission first?" Caroline asked the twins, who nodded emphatically in response.

Klaus returned with Elijah and Hayley in tow. Hayley paused the movie before all three of them sat on chairs scattered around the room, since the girls, Caroline, and Rebekah were taking up all of the room on the couch.

"I had an idea that I wanted everyone's opinion on. I promise that I will let you return to your movie as soon as possible," Klaus announced, appeasing the girls at least slightly.

"I think that once Freya and Kol have been revived, we should go back to New Orleans," Klaus proposed.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Elijah asked.

"How can we take back our city if we're in hiding somewhere else?" Klaus challenged.

"You just escaped and you want to go right back and pick a fight with your captor?" Rebekah asked incredulously.

"Marcel might not even be there," Klaus suggested.

"Why not?" Hayley wondered.

"He might have fallen into the trap that Caroline set for him," Klaus answered.

Caroline looked over at him, confused.

"He might have gone to look for Katherine. You made her sound like the bane of my existence and the expert on evading me," Klaus explained.

"What do you know about Katerina?" Elijah demanded.

"That is exactly the point, Elijah. Marcel is missing the crucial piece of information that Katherine is dead," Klaus stated.

"I think I would have broken the news to him a little more gently," Caroline quietly scolded Klaus.

"You're sure that she's dead?" Elijah asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Caroline confirmed. "And it's permanent this time. She was killed by hellfire. There's no way she could use magic or charm to recover from that."

Hayley looked unnerved by Elijah's strong reaction to the news of Katherine's death. Caroline could understand her discomfort; she had never seen Elijah so emotional either.

"Five hundred years of hating her, what will you do with yourself now?" Elijah asked Klaus, melancholy seeping into his voice despite his obvious effort.

"I gave up my revenge against Katherine when I thought she died a few years ago. There's nothing to be gained from gloating over a corpse," Klaus said.

"How magnanimous of you," Rebekah drawled, but Klaus was looking at Caroline, who had rolled her eyes.

"The point is that we can take back the city if we work quickly," Klaus explained. "And I have a plan that I think you'll like, sweetheart."

"What do I have to do?" Caroline asked.

"I need you to plan a party for me, love," Klaus informed Caroline.

"I don't understand; how is planning a party going to help you reclaim your throne?" Caroline asked.

"We need to show them that we are back and we are stronger than we have ever been, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to win our city back," Klaus explained.

"Well, you know I'll help," Caroline readily agreed.

"So while Caroline is brainstorming party themes, what are the rest of us going to do?" Rebekah asked.

"I already know what I want the theme of the party to be, but you're more than welcome to help me, Rebekah," Caroline offered.

"That was quick," Hayley commented.

"There's only one party theme that I can think of that screams 'we have money and power and we want everyone to know it, but only one person to see it,'" Caroline said.

The confused look on Hayley's face told Caroline that she had no idea what she meant, but the wicked grin on Rebekah's face told Caroline that she was completely on board.

"We'll need to take the girls shopping for something appropriate," Rebekah ordered. "I'm sure that you didn't pack an evening gown, let alone a formal dress for such a specific occasion."

"All of you can shop to your hearts' content once we get back to the city," Klaus promised. "For now we need to focus on being ready to leave as soon as we revive Kol."

{ }

The entire house spent the next two days in a state of complete chaos.

Although, with the number of people in the house, chaos wasn't much different from what passed for order. Keeping three magical children, two Original vampires, one Original witch, one Original hybrid, Caroline, and Hayley under the same roof was a challenge, especially as time went on and they started getting on each other's nerves.

The twins and Hope had become fast friends, and at times it seemed like they were the only ones who were getting along. Rebekah threw an increasing number of tantrums as her siblings ignored her or disagreed with her. Klaus spent most of his time quietly plotting, and Elijah was usually quiet as well, sitting in the corner in his neatly pressed suit, observing, and in Caroline's mind, judging them all. Caroline started working on her party plans and played with the twins. Freya, who Caroline only met the day before and immediately liked, read and helped teach the girls new spells.

Caroline and the twins had even managed to have a brief phone conversation with Alaric. Caroline reassured him that she and the girls were fine, that they'd found Klaus and were now safe with him and his family. While Alaric had seemed enthusiastic and engaged when he spoke to the twins, with Caroline he was more reserved. Caroline realized that they'd both reached the same conclusion. They agreed to talk again soon, neither of them looking forward to the discussion that was looming over them.

On the morning that they were planning to revive Kol and then leave for New Orleans, all nine of them were sitting in the living room and the tension in the room was suffocating. The girls were playing a board game, Caroline was working on her party plans, Freya was reading, Rebekah was painting her nails, Klaus and Elijah were discussing strategy.

"Caroline, can I talk to you?" Hayley asked.

"Sure," Caroline agreed, following Hayley upstairs to her room. Hayley's room was painted a cool white, with dark green curtains and a matching bedspread. The sparse decorations reminded Caroline of a similar-looking room she'd searched at the Mikaelson mansion in New Orleans. Once Caroline was in the room, Hayley shut the door behind her.

"I'm not trying to be uptight," Hayley started. "From what I remember, you're more than uptight enough for both of us, but I think we need to get this out in the open before we go back to New Orleans."

"All right," Caroline said, unsure of where Hayley was going with the conversation.

"I don't know what your relationship status with Klaus is, but I need to make sure you're considering Hope in your decisions there," Hayley said.

"Klaus and I aren't together, Hayley. I just broke off my engagement and my ex-fiancé just died. I can't be in a relationship with anyone right now. Why are you concerned about Hope?" Caroline asked.

"Because if you get in a relationship with Klaus, Hope is part of the deal, and I'm not going to let her get hurt. If you want to be a part of my daughter's life, it has to be on my terms. I have to feel comfortable with it," Hayley explained.

"I understand wanting to protect your daughter—" Caroline started, but Hayley interrupted.

"You can't fully understand how I think and how I feel because you're not a werewolf," Hayley insisted. "Protective instincts come along with the quick temper and the violent tendencies. Not only is Hope my daughter, she's also part of my pack. And I'm the queen of my pack. It's my job to protect my pack."

"I may not understand what it's like to be Queen of the Werewolves, but I do understand being willing to do anything to protect your children," Caroline said.

Caroline wondered if this leadership role within her werewolf pack was why Hayley identified herself only as a werewolf and not a hybrid like Klaus did, or like Tyler had. In fact, Caroline had been too preoccupied when she'd first arrived to the safe house to notice right away that Hayley was a hybrid, though it did explain how Hayley had known that Hope could create hybrids. Caroline secretly found it ironic that Hayley had worked so hard to help Klaus's hybrids break their sire bonds, then when she became a hybrid, she didn't have to suffer through the process herself.

"It's just that, it's just been me and her, for years," Hayley began. "I've had to become strong and tough to survive, starting from when I was young, and I've had to teach Hope the same mindset. We're all each other has."

Caroline hadn't known Hope for very long, but she knew that over the last three years, Hope had been raised to be fiercely loyal to her mother and very suspicious of everyone else. For three years, all of Hope's life that she could remember, the only person who was always with her, the only person who she could always count on, was her mother. Hayley and Hope were a team, a unit: two strong, determined, fiercely independent young women who depended on no one but each other. Loyalty, Caroline knew, was another werewolf trait.

Hope would always take Hayley's side in any conflict, no matter who it was against, and Caroline wouldn't ask her to oppose her mother. Even though Hope had grown closer to Klaus since he'd been back in her life, they had nowhere near the close relationship that Hope and Hayley had.

"I'm not trying to be her evil stepmother, or trying to break up the Hayley and Hope dream team," Caroline promised, sensing what Hayley's real insecurities were. She knew that Hayley wasn't a particularly emotionally forthcoming person, that in her mind, showing emotions made you weak, and she took pride in being strong and tough. "I know that we're both pretty competitive, but we don't have to make parenting a competition. We don't have to fight over who is the better mother."

"I think I'd like that," Hayley nodded. "I don't know if we'll ever be friends, but I think this family has more than enough enemies already without us being enemies too. All I'm saying is, Hope's already lost a lot of people in her life, and she's been separated from her family for years. If she gets attached to you and then you leave because Klaus does something unforgivable, which wouldn't surprise anyone, she'll be devastated."

"I'm not comfortable sharing our private conversations with you, but Klaus and I already have an understanding that once we're together, it's for good. For now, I'm just a friend, and Hope's friends' mom," Caroline said.

"Okay," Hayley said.

"I know this isn't any of my business, but that isn't why you're with Elijah, right? So that even if you break up, he's still in Hope's life?" Caroline asked tentatively.

"No, I wasn't with Elijah for a long time," Hayley answered. "I was married to a leader from another local werewolf pack, we'd been betrothed since I was a baby. He loved me, he adored Hope-which made his death really hard for us to recover from."

"I'm so sorry," Caroline whispered, overwhelmed with sympathy for what the other mother had been through, what she had nearly been through.

"He's stable," Hayley began. "I can be quick to fly off the handle and get mad, but Elijah always stays calm. I'm like a fire, burning and destroying everything in my path when I can't control my temper, but he's like the earth beneath my feet. He's solid and dependable."

Caroline smiled. "I'm glad you have someone who complements you."

"Let's get back in there before they think I killed you," Hayley suggested. "I will kill you if you hurt Hope, but you haven't done anything to deserve my wrath yet."

{ }

When Caroline and Hayley reentered the room, all of the other occupants looked up expectantly, and Caroline couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"What's so funny?" Klaus asked.

"I just can't believe that you all do this voluntarily," Caroline said.

"Do what?" Rebekah asked.

"You all live together, all the time, not just under dire circumstances," Caroline explained.

"I've tried to make these leeches leave my house, but they just won't go," Klaus chimed in.

"Living with you isn't exactly a treat," Rebekah retorted.

"Who are you calling a leech? I gave birth to your daughter and I died in the process, I think I deserve room and board," Hayley said.

"I'm just saying, you all have such big personalities, and it's been tense with so many people in the house over these past few days that I can't imagine what it's like for all of you to live together all the time," Caroline tried to explain.

"There's a lot of deliberately not using your vampire hearing," Klaus said.

As he said it, Rebekah caught Caroline's eye with a look that informed Caroline that Rebekah had been using her vampire hearing to listen in on Caroline and Hayley's conversation.

"The sooner the girls can revive Kol, the sooner we can get out of this safe house and go back to New Orleans," Elijah suggested. "That house is bigger at least, so there's more privacy. And we don't have to stay inside all the time there."

"All right, girls, are you ready to go save Kol? This is the last time you'll have to do this, you might even miss it a little," Caroline gathered the twins and led them upstairs to the attic.

Rebekah quickly followed after Caroline, grabbing her elbow to hold her in place when she caught up.

"Zeus fathered a lot of children, but he only had one wife," Rebekah whispered to Caroline once they'd reached the stairs.

"Zeus hated his wife," Caroline replied.

"You can't live with someone without hating them at least a little sometimes, especially if you're immortal," Rebekah answered.

"Well, thanks Rebekah," Caroline said. "I think," she added.

{ }

Unlike the other three times, Caroline hadn't waited around to watch Lizzie and Josie wake up Kol. She'd gone to their room (Rebekah had demanded her own room, the one Caroline had slept in, back the moment she'd no longer been confined to the attic, leaving Caroline to share with the twins) to finish packing their belongings.

They still didn't have their entire closets at their disposal, so Caroline had dressed the twins in their jeans, sweaters, and sneakers that they'd worn when they'd left Mystic Falls. She'd taken their style cues from the Mikaelsons, who were all wearing black jeans, dark colored shirts, structured jackets, and heavy boots. Hayley and Hope were matching in hunter green button-down shirts, dark blue jeans, black military-style jackets, and black combat boots. While Caroline like the idea of matching her clothes to her children's, she never had, because she never dressed the twins in the same clothes, wanting them to feel like individuals, not just one half of a pair. Instead, while all three of them wore black skinny jeans, Lizzie wore a bubblegum pink sweater, Josie wore a pumpkin orange sweater, and Caroline wore a cream-colored sweater.

After she took their luggage downstairs, Caroline trudged upstairs to see if the twins were close to finishing their rescue effort. When she entered the attic, Kol was already sitting on the floor, telling them jokes while Klaus and Rebekah watched, occasionally rolling their eyes.

"Do these delightful children belong to you?" Kol asked Caroline, alerting everyone else in the room to her presence.

"They do," Caroline confirmed. "Don't get too close, they'll assign you a Disney character they think you're most like."

"Eugene," the girls chorused.

"Good choice," Caroline praised. "A little weird since you've assigned Rapunzel to Rebekah, but he does seem like a good Eugene, doesn't he? And if it gets too weird we'll make him Peter Pan."

The girls nodded enthusiastically.

"What about Nik?" Kol asked mischievously.

The girls blinked up at him, confused.

"He means Klaus," Caroline immediately explained.

"We haven't decided yet," Josie said.

Rebekah burst out laughing.

"He's clearly the Beast!" she insisted through her giggles.

"I called him Hades, the other day when the girls were watching _Hercules_ , but I think you're right about him being the Beast." Caroline agreed.

"The four of you will have plenty of time to debate this in the car on the way back to New Orleans. We were just waiting on Kol to be revived, and now that he is, it's time to go. Caroline, are you ready?" Klaus asked.

"We're ready, our stuff is downstairs by the door. Come on, girls, let's go," Caroline took their hands and followed Klaus out of the attic, with Rebekah and Kol trailing behind them, bickering already.

{ }

Caroline knew that the Mikaelsons were potentially the most dysfunctional family in history. She knew that it must be difficult being the most powerful family in the supernatural world.

So it made her feel a little more well-adjusted to know that the Mikaelsons argued over where everyone would sit in the car during a road trip, just like every other family did.

When Klaus had set up the safe house, he had brought an SUV similar to the one he drove to keep in the garage. Somehow, despite having two vehicles that would each fit seven people, the ten of them were still struggling to arrange who would go in which car.

Hayley had insisted on keeping Hope in the car with her, and Caroline made clear that she wanted the twins to stay with her. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but Caroline found out after assuming they would all drive back in Klaus's car, that Hayley also wanted to be with Elijah, who had been nominated to drive the other car.

Klaus was leaning against the driver's seat of his car, silently observing the fray from the vantage point of someone who wouldn't be affected in any way by the outcome. Elijah was equally quiet, but with the attitude of someone who would simply do whatever he wanted if he didn't like the decision that the others made.

Lizzie was clinging to Rebekah's hand as the vampire tried to decide which of her brothers she would be able to tolerate for the entire car ride. Lizzie had become very attached to Rebekah because of her resemblance to several Disney princesses and her Barbie dolls, and Rebekah had developed a similar fondness for Lizzie, seeing the little girl as her mini-me, a little doll she could dress up in pretty dresses.

Caroline was just waiting for Klaus to get annoyed and start to dictate seating arrangements.

Caroline set Josie down and sent her to join Hope and Freya, where the older witch was helping her niece make bubbles using her magic, then approached Klaus.

"I know that you're losing your patience with all of this nonsense, and that you're moments away from just telling everyone which car to get in, so could we maybe hurry the process along? We wanted to leave almost an hour ago," Caroline reminded him.

"Put the girls in my car, their car seats should still be in there. Since Lizzie seems reluctant to let go of Rebekah, she'll come with us," Klaus decided.

"Elijah," he called, tossing the keys to the other car to his older brother. "This bickering has gone on far too long. I still have the twins' car seats in my car, and they refuse to be parted from Caroline and Rebekah, so they'll come with me. You take Hope, Hayley, Kol, and Freya and meet us back at the house."

Elijah agreed and left, informing everyone assigned to his car of the plan, causing Kol to start yelling his opposition to sitting in the very back seat of the car. Wanting to avoid the same fight with Rebekah, Caroline sat in the passenger seat after buckling the twins into their car seats.

After Elijah pulled out of the driveway, Hayley in the passenger seat beside him, Klaus made his way over to his own car with Rebekah. Rebekah glared at Caroline, but otherwise climbed into the last row of seats without complaint.

And then they were on their way, back to New Orleans, the place that, if everything went his way, Klaus would soon rule again.

* * *

And back to New Orleans we go!  
Thank you so much for reading!  
As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
love,  
charlotte


	9. Chapter IX: Among the Whisperings

Hello everyone!  
Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter! I was so thrilled to see that this story has surpassed 10,000 views, 100 followers, 75 favorites, and 70 reviews! I am so amazed by the response this story has received; I never would have imagined that so many people would like and want to read my writing! Thank you all so much for reading and interacting with my work, whether you've only reviewed once or review every chapter, I appreciate all of your commentary (please note that if you have reviewed more than once, I do look forward to reading your reviews, and I worry about you if I don't see your review).

I love that on the last chapter there were so many differing opinions (and I really appreciate that you all expressed those differing opinions very politely)! Some of you liked Klaus and Caroline's conversation, some of you didn't. Some of you liked Caroline and Hayley's conversation, some of you didn't.  
As far as Klaus and Caroline's conversation goes, this is the first of many discussions they'll have about their relationship. Caroline expressing her insecurities was an important first step, but she still has to overcome them, and Klaus needs to acknowledge her fears in a more productive way than just laughing at how ridiculous and impossible they seem to him (he wasn't laughing at Caroline, I promise. Klaus would never do that). But Rome wasn't built in a day, and Klaus isn't exactly the most sensitive person on the planet. This conversation ended soon after that because they both knew they'd reached a stalemate: Caroline wasn't going to be able get over her insecurities right away, and Klaus wasn't going to be able to convince her that they were unfounded right away.  
I saw one review that said Hayley was too harsh in her conversation with Caroline, and I saw another that said the conversation was very mature. I agree with both of you. I know that Hayley can seem harsh and aggressive, but my purpose for including that conversation was to show that Hayley's reason for being so harsh is to protect her daughter. Hayley and Caroline have the common purpose of trying to protect their children from the nonsense of the supernatural world, so they can find common ground there.  
Rebekah's comment about Zeus caused some laughter and some confusion, so I'll explain it here. Rebekah said that to Caroline to show her support for Klaus and Caroline's romantic relationship, even though Klaus has a daughter with Hayley. She's essentially saying that it doesn't matter that Hope is Klaus and Hayley's daughter, because Klaus loves Caroline, not Hayley.

In this chapter, a detail from chapter five that may have seen like a throw-away line at the time comes back, and it's important. If you don't remember it, feel free to go reread the chapter, there's no shame in not remembering every detail from the entire story.  
Also, I apologize in advance for the last scenes of this chapter. I rewrote it several times, I agonized over it, and I considered removing it all together, but it had to happen. I'm sorry; please don't hate me.  
And, I make two inferences about _The Vampire Diaries_ that you may not agree with, but they both seem like something Klaus would do. One is about Elena's blood, and the other is about a dress.

Last thing, I promise: I won't have time to write or update over the holidays, so this will be my last update for this year. I will post chapter ten in early January. Until then, happy holidays to all of you, and thank you so much for supporting this story, I really love and appreciate all of you with all my heart.

The title of this chapter comes from a book, but I can't tell you what book yet because that would give away the theme of the party for anyone who hasn't already guessed it (no one guessed in their review of last chapter, so I don't know who's already figured it out). This chapter was originally supposed to be titled, "At Small Parties There Isn't Any Privacy," which is also a quote from the book (and a better, more appropriate one, in my opinion) but the site won't allow titles that long. I apologize, and I'm quite disappointed that I had to change it.

* * *

The party had been scheduled for the Friday night after they returned to New Orleans. Caroline spent days, both at the safe house and at Klaus's mansion in the city, planning the event down to the last detail.

There was no official guest list, which had confused Caroline at first, but Klaus had said he would take care of it, which she'd worried meant compelling unsuspecting victims to attend.

So on the day of the party, all Caroline could do was move forward with the information and resources she had. Rebekah and Freya had both offered to help set up, and Klaus had given all of the hybrids he had managed to create when he'd first arrived in New Orleans using his secret last reserves of Elena's blood strict orders to obey Caroline's every instruction.

Since the party was going to be held outside in the courtyard, they had to be careful when they were setting up to make sure that no one saw what they were doing. Caroline found it rather outrageous that her and her daughters' safety was dependent on her ability to keep giant crystal chandeliers and a massive champagne fountain hidden.

While decorating, Caroline couldn't help but think that this party would have been better suited for the Mikaelsons' mansion in Mystic Falls, with its grand spiral staircase, rather than the courtyard of this simpler home. At least at the other house they could have held the party inside and not worried about passersby seeing anything.

Throughout the day, the other residents of the house had wandered outside to check on their progress. Klaus came to make sure that his hybrids were cooperating with Caroline, Kol tried to get one of them to divulge the theme, which was meant to be a surprise, and Elijah walked out of the dining room, scanned the courtyard, and then walked back inside, without ever acknowledging any of them.

"So, Caroline," Freya finally spoke after they'd been working for a few hours. "I feel like I know nothing about you. How is it that you know my family, exactly?"

Having been raised separately from her family, it wasn't a surprise to learn that Freya was very different from the rest of the Mikaelsons. She was calmer, quieter, determined to do anything she could to help her family, but not as stubborn for the sake of winning a fight. She was also more reserved and guarded, so while Caroline had taken a liking to her immediately, Freya still hadn't fully warmed to her. Caroline didn't blame her; it must be surprising to learn that your immensely powerful thousand-year-old Original hybrid brother is firmly wrapped around the little finger of a vampire less than twenty-five years old.

"I was friends with the doppelganger that Klaus used to break his hybrid curse," Caroline started. "Then a few months later he turned my boyfriend at the time into his first successful hybrid, who later bit me on Klaus's orders to try to earn the cooperation of the town sheriff, my mother. He gave me his blood to heal me and he's been obsessed with me ever since," Caroline continued with a laugh.

"She isn't joking," Rebekah confirmed to Freya, then turned to address Caroline. "When he invited you to that ball and you showed up wearing that beautiful dress he gave you, he couldn't take his eyes off of you the whole night."

"Were the two of you friends then?" Freya asked, looking from Rebekah to Caroline.

"Not at all," Caroline corrected. "We argued over pretty much everything. We're both Type A perfectionists, and we both wanted to do things our way and were too stubborn to compromise. Plus Rebekah saw me as competition for Klaus's attention and she didn't like feeling like she wasn't the only girl who was important to him anymore. I think Hope's birth helped her get over that."

"Aren't you funny," Rebekah deadpanned. "We like each other now."

"We do?" Caroline teased.

"You brought me two beautiful little dolls to play dress up with, of course I like you. Didn't we have fun picking out their dresses for the party tonight?"

{ }

Two days before, Rebekah had insisted that all of the girls go shopping for dresses to the party. All seven of them-Rebekah, Caroline, Freya, Lizzie, Josie, Hope, and Hayley-took over the small vintage shop that Rebekah swore had the best dresses in the city.

The clothing was organized according to decade, and Rebekah quickly led them all over to the appropriate section. The girls were taken with the sparkly options, while the adults focused in on favorite colors and dresses that came in their sizes.

Caroline had an enjoyable time. She missed shopping with friends, picking out clothes that they thought would look good for each other, and helping each other decide which dresses they liked the best.

"This reminds me of when I went shopping for my prom dress," Caroline told the group.

"You mean the prom dress you were supposed to wear," Rebekah said.

"Well, yeah, of course, this is nothing like how I picked out the prom dress I actually wore," Caroline agreed.

"I think I'm missing a story here," Freya said.

"My senior year of high school, my friends Bonnie and Elena and I all went shopping together to pick out our prom dresses, and it was a lot like this; all of us helping each other determine which colors and styles were most flattering, what we liked the most. Then weeks later, Elena turned her off her humanity, and decided she hated me, so when I went in the store to try on the dress again, Elena showed up, with Rebekah, who was her partner in crime at the time," Caroline started.

"The doppelganger was much more fun to be around without her emotions," Rebekah defended.

"Anyway, Elena stole my prom dress. So even though I had planned the prom, I didn't think I would be able to go because I didn't have a dress. Then right before the dance was supposed to start, I was looking through my closet to see if I had anything I could wear, and I saw this beautiful blue dress that Klaus had given me to wear to this ball the Mikaelsons' hosted right after my dad died, so I was too busy to shop for a dress to wear. I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I went over to the Mikaelson mansion, and Klaus was there, in a seriously awful mood, and I told him what happened and asked him if he could find a dress for me to wear, and he laughed at me, but he agreed to lend me a dress from the vast thousand-year collection that the Original family has amassed. And I was the best dressed person at that prom, no offense Rebekah," Caroline concluded.

"None taken, it's true," Rebekah shrugged.

"What did the dress look like?" Freya asked.

"It was seriously the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. It was this cream color, and it was covered in pearls, with a strapless, sweetheart neckline and this tulle skirt that flared out at the bottom. I still have it, when I tried to give it back, Klaus insisted that I keep it. I'll show it to you if I can get all of our stuff shipped down here," Caroline promised.

"Mommy's princess dress!" Lizzie exclaimed to Josie in a whisper.

Lizzie took a piece of paper out of the pocket of her jacket and handed it to Freya.

"Wow, Lizzie's right, you really do look like a princess," Freya complimented her.

Caroline just sighed.

"Girls, when we get back, please give Klaus his drawing back. Stealing is wrong, even when the person you're stealing from is being held hostage in his own basement," Caroline chided them gently. "Well, that's certainly something I never thought I would say before I became a mother."

Caroline saw, out of the corner of her eye, Hayley smile a little at that comment, probably agreeing that raising supernatural children was an incomparably strange experience.

Rebekah pulled out a shiny violet dress and held it up to her chest.

"What do we think of this one?" she asked.

All of the girls shook their heads.

They eventually managed to choose a silver dress for Rebekah, a black dress for Freya, pink dresses for Lizzie and Josie, and a bronze colored dress for Caroline.

Hayley had found a dark green dress she adored, along with a similar one in a smaller size for Hope, and refused to try on any others. When she asked for the other girls' opinions on her choices, she was answered with enthusiastic approval.

Caroline gathered her and the twins' dresses and reached into her purse to take out her wallet to pay when Rebekah stopped her.

The other blonde vampire held up a small black piece of plastic.

"Nik is paying, silly."

"I couldn't…" Caroline tried to argue.

"You didn't, he offered. And he instructed me to tell you that he insisted when you started to argue, as he knew you would," Rebekah explained.

"It's the least he can do after all of the nonsense that he's put us through," Hayley added. "Live a little, Caroline. We deserve this."

"I'm calling him," Caroline announced, taking a few steps away from the group and pulling out her cell phone.

"Hello, love," Klaus greeted her pleasantly when he answered the phone.

"I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to spend hundreds of dollars on dresses for the girls and me that we're only going to wear once, maybe twice if I manage to convince the girls to wear theirs again for Halloween. But they're three; they outgrow things so quickly! It's just wasteful and I can't ask you to waste your money on clothes will only fit them for a few months," Caroline informed him.

"It's a good thing you didn't ask then," Klaus replied.

"And I understand you wanting to treat your sisters and your daughter, and Hayley seems to feel like you paying for everything for her is a combination of child support, alimony, and damages from the distress you've caused her, but there is no reason for you to financially support me. I can take care of myself, and I want to take care of myself," Caroline continued.

"The reason I offered is because I want to do something nice for you, but you know that I would never force you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. But I do remember that the last time you didn't have a dress for a party, you asked for my assistance. So if it will make you feel better, you are more than welcome to search the attic for something to wear, I'm sure you'll find something. Though I don't think your daughters would be as lucky, since Hope spent her third year in a safe house rather than attending formal events," Klaus said.

"Fine, you can buy the girls' dresses, but I'm tucking their tags in. And we searched your attic when we were looking for you. I should be able to find the dresses I liked again fairly quickly. Thank you for all of this," Caroline responded.

"Pleasure doing business with you, love," Klaus replied.

Caroline hung up the phone and rejoined the group.

"Please tell me he convinced you to just let him buy the dresses, I'm bored," Rebekah whined.

"He's buying theirs; I'll come back tomorrow and get mine myself if I can't find anything in the trophy case," Caroline said.

"That sounds fair," Freya interjected, trying to prevent Rebekah from arguing further. "And very maternal."

"Excuse me?" Caroline called out, trying to catch the attention of a nearby employee. "Would it be possible to put a dress on hold?"

"We can reserve an item for up to 48 hours," the woman answered with a fake, customer service smile.

"That's more than enough time, thank you very much," Caroline said, handing over the dress she'd picked out.

Rebekah took all of the other dresses to the cash register and brandished Klaus's credit card as the employee rang up their purchases.

She swung the bags from where they hung from her wrists as they left the store.

"Well, that was fun," she proclaimed with a mischievous grin.

{ }

It had taken them most of the morning, and even into the afternoon, but they were finally finished decorating the courtyard for the party. With all of the decorations in place, there was no question what the theme of the party was, except for Kol, who had no interest in that particular "generation," having been daggered at the time, and Hayley, who had spent most of her teenage years fighting to make her own way in the world, leaving her little time to study history, read literature or watch movies.

Once they'd finished, Caroline had ordered everyone to stay away from the courtyard so that they would get the full effect when the party started. Caroline hadn't anticipated everyone cooperating, until Rebekah whispered in her ear that Klaus had told everyone that they were to listen to Caroline or face his wrath.

Now that set up for the party was finished, Caroline had only four hours to either find a dress in Klaus's attic or go back and buy the dress she'd reserved, then get herself and the twins ready.

Caroline was already nervous enough about this party, even without the added stress of not having anything to wear and having to make sure two three-year-olds were on their best behavior. Klaus was counting on her; all of the Mikaelsons were counting on her. She had to make the perfect impression with her party, and she was terrified that something would go wrong and Klaus and his siblings would hate her forever.

She trudged upstairs to the attic and honed in on the area where she'd dresses when she'd searched the attic only a few days earlier. Most of the dresses she saw wouldn't suit the theme of the party, either because they were too simple or too delicately fancy.

Within only a few minutes, Caroline had pulled out all of the dresses that could possibly work. Of the hundred or more formal dresses stored away in armoires and chests in the attic, only twelve would be appropriate for that night's event.

She was able to immediately eliminate two that were silver, knowing that Rebekah would hate if she wore a dress that was the same color as hers. Three of the dresses were black, and though Freya didn't thrive on attention the way Rebekah did, she still didn't want to appear to be copying her either. Another was a reddish-pink color that reminded Caroline of a dress she'd worn to a school dance, and since that dance had ended with a showdown between Klaus and one of his parents, she didn't want to take any chances. She put another dress back on its rack because it was blue, and she'd already worn a blue dress to a Mikaelson family event.

With half of her options disqualified due to their colors, Caroline's choices were becoming worryingly limited. She reconsidered the blue and red dresses. Repeating outfit colors wouldn't be the worst thing she could do, if the alternative was having no outfit at all. Of the remaining dresses, only three looked like they fit her, with the other three clearly having been intended for someone significantly shorter than Caroline, hitting far higher on her thigh than she was comfortable with when she held them up to her body.

She took the three remaining dresses downstairs and poked her head into the common rooms until she found Klaus and Rebekah in the living room.

"Which one?" she asked, holding all three hangers aloft.

"Too dark," Rebekah critiqued, pulling a deep purple dress with an iridescent sheen that made it appear blue when it moved from Caroline's left hand.

Then she pulled down the other dress in Caroline's left hand, a soft celery green colored dress with gold and white embroidery.

"You can't wear green," Rebekah insisted. "Hayley is wearing green, remember? It's practically her signature color. She says it brings out the color of her eyes, which it does, so she wears it all the time. You can't copy her."

"Her dress is dark green, though, so I guess I didn't think of it," Caroline responded. "I already had to put back silver and black dresses so I wouldn't copy you and Freya, but you're right, green should be out."

She held up the only dress Rebekah hadn't rejected.

"So, this one?" she confirmed.

"That one," Rebekah agreed.

"Klaus? Anything to add?" Caroline asked.

"I'm sure you'll look beautiful in whatever you wear, sweetheart," Klaus assured her. "But I agree with Rebekah that you should try to stand out, be seen as your own person."

"Okay, I'm going to go get the twins ready, so that I can get ready. Hopefully, by the time I'm done getting them ready, someone else will be ready and they can watch them," Caroline announced.

"I'll watch the girls," Klaus offered. "Rebekah and Freya will spend ages doing their hair and makeup, no one in their right mind would trust Kol to watch their children, and Elijah is too uptight to actually interact with them and keep them occupied. He would just stare at them to make sure they don't get into trouble."

"All right, well, thank you," Caroline said, turning to leave the room.

{ }

Klaus wouldn't say that he was regretting offering to watch Lizzie and Josie while Caroline get ready for the party, but the experience certainly wasn't going how he thought it would.

The girls had somehow convinced him to play a board game with them, so there he was, the Original hybrid, playing Sorry with two three-year-olds. And much to his dismay, he wasn't even winning.

Lizzie was about to move her third red game piece into the safe zone when she shyly glanced up at him.

"Klaus?" the little girl began.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Klaus replied.

"Mommy said we had to give your drawing of her in her princess dress back to you," she said, a piece of paper held tightly in her little fist.

Klaus took the paper from her and unfolded it to see a drawing of Caroline he had done recently. He'd sketched it from memory; the image of Caroline looking beautiful in the dress he'd given her, looking like a queen, as he'd seen her through the window after allowing Tyler to leave unscathed, offering him mercy, once again, for Caroline's sake.

"Are you mad?" Josie asked nervously.

"No, I'm not mad. You saw a drawing of your mother and it caught your interest. I understand why you wanted to see it," Klaus assured them.

"How long have you known Mommy?" Lizzie asked, her eyes wide and her head tilted, letting the hair that Caroline had painstakingly curled and pinned scrunch up against her shoulder.

Lizzie had figured out very quickly that she had Klaus wrapped around her little finger, though she was too young to understand why. A warm but melancholy look in Caroline's eyes he'd seen while he was holding Lizzie in the safe house told him that Caroline did know why.

"Since before you were born," Klaus answered, knowing that at three, the twins didn't have a comprehensive understanding of time, and that to them, anything lasting longer than their own lifetime was practically ancient history.

The twins grinned and clapped their hands.

They really were adorable, though Klaus knew he was rather biased in their favor. At the moment, they were dressed for the party, wearing similar sparkly pink dresses. Lizzie's dress was bubblegum pink, while Josie's was a deeper magenta, but both dresses had cap sleeves and reached the girls' knees. They both had sequined headbands that matched their dresses in their hair, and Lizzie's had a matching sequin-covered heart attached to hers above her right ear, where most of her hair fell. They wore matching black patent T-strap shoes and long strands of pink pearl beads around their necks. If the twins' outfits were any indication of how much effort Caroline was putting into this party, this event was going to be perfect.

The girls had been quite impressed by Klaus's party outfit as well. He was wearing a three-piece suit: black pinstriped trousers, a black pinstriped vest, and a black pinstriped jacket, worn with a white dress shirt, a black tie, and black patent leather dress shoes. His hair had been slicked over to the side, and he'd dug out an antique gold pocket watch to add authenticity to his costume.

If Caroline could see all three of them sitting on the floor wrinkling their clothes, she would have a fit.

Freya and Elijah floated into the room, fully dressed and ready for the party. Elijah was dressed similarly to Klaus, except his jacket was double-breasted and his tie was forest green instead of black. Freya was wearing a black dress with black and silver beads winding across it and a fringed hem that swung around her knees as she walked. She was wearing a black headband in her curled hair, with black feathers pinned on one side.

Klaus stood up, picking up Lizzie and propping her on his hip once he was fully upright. Freya scooped up Josie, smoothing her dress before turning back to Klaus.

"I've been sent to take these two back to their mom for a final once-over. I guess she anticipated them playing on the floor," Freya explained. "And no one else was ready yet, so I volunteered to retrieve them."

"I'm going to check on Hayley and Hope," Elijah said, leaving the room first.

Freya whispered something in Josie's ear as they walked up the stairs, which Klaus could have listened to, but chose to ignore in favor of listening to Lizzie's commentary on the bedroom she and her sister were staying in.

When they reached Caroline's room, which was, at her request, between the twins' room and Rebekah's, Freya set Josie down and knocked on the door. When Caroline directed them to enter, Klaus moved forward, but was stopped by Josie's little voice proclaiming, "No boys allowed!" so he put Lizzie down and walked away, deciding to make sure that the hybrids were in position.

{ }

Caroline was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when Rebekah burst into the room. She started towards Caroline before getting distracted by Lizzie and Josie.

"My little princesses, you look so pretty!" Rebekah exclaimed.

Rebekah moved over to Caroline's vanity and picked up a lipstick.

"Use this one," she suggested, handing it over.

Caroline applied the pinkish-red lipstick, then added a sparkly lip gloss on top.

"Okay, I'm ready, and so are the girls. Are you ready?" Caroline asked Rebekah.

Rebekah was wearing a tight dress made entirely of silver sequins, with spaghetti straps and a fringed hem that brushed her knees. Her lips were painted red and her eyelids were coated with a light dusting of metallic silver eyeshadow.

"Yes, I'm ready. Let's go," Rebekah said.

Lizzie took Rebekah's hand, and Josie took Caroline's, and they walked down the stairs and into the courtyard.

At the bottom of the stairs, they ran into Hope and Hayley. Both were wearing forest green dresses with square necklines and wide tank top straps, decorated with layers of fringe. They were both wearing black Mary Jane shoes, their hair wrapped up in intricate fishtail braided buns. Hayley was wearing brick red lipstick, her eyes lined with a forest green pencil.

"Hope! My perfect little niece, you look so pretty!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"Rebekah, are you already drunk?" Caroline asked.

"No, I am just excited and surrounded by very beautiful and well-dressed little girls. We did very well, so I am starting to celebrate, and you should too." Rebekah retorted.

Elijah appeared behind Hayley, his tie matching her dress. Then Klaus and Freya approached from another direction, the pair of statuesque golden-haired siblings both dressed in black.

Caroline saw Klaus's eyes scan the length of her antique golden bronze dress, over the bold art-deco pattern in darker bronze sequins, to the fringed hem, to her black patent high heeled shoes. When he looked back up at her face, meeting her eyes, the gold eyeshadow and black eyeliner she wore making them looker larger than usual, he smiled at her.

"Let's go make an entrance," Rebekah said, leading the way.

{ }

They stood in a line, as a show of strength or in preparation for a firing squad, Caroline wasn't sure. Klaus stood in the center, with Hope on his left and Caroline on his right. Josie, Lizzie, Rebekah, and Freya stood on Caroline's other side, and Hayley, Elijah, and Kol stood on Hope's left.

The courtyard was crowded with guests, all dressed similarly, though not quite as luxuriously, as the Mikaelsons. Hanging above the courtyard were multiple crystal chandeliers that appeared to almost glow in the night sky. The terracotta-colored walls of the house were covered by sheets of shimmering silver plastic, and in the center of the courtyard was a giant champagne fountain.

Caroline looked around the room. Everywhere she looked, she saw guests eyeing the decorations with decidedly impressed expressions. She heard murmurs of praise among them.

She had pulled it off.

And like she'd told Hayley, nothing said 'we have money and power and we want everyone to know it, but only one person to see it,' quite like a Gatsby party.

"We should go mingle," Rebekah proposed. "Nik, you should take one of the little angels with you, it might make you seem softer, even almost decent and approachable."

Klaus just chuckled in response.

"You invited all of the most powerful people in the supernatural community here and you think I'm letting my daughter out of my sight? Yeah, right," Hayley scoffed, taking Hope by the hand and approaching a group of werewolves.

"Well, I'm off to the bar. I'll try to put in a good word for you, Nik," Kol said before disappearing into the crowd.

With Hope securely in Hayley's grasp and Lizzie refusing to venture more than a few feet away from Rebekah, who was plying her with pink, strawberry-flavored candies and introducing her to anyone who would listen as "our perfect little angel princess Elizabeth," Caroline turned to Josie, who was still holding her hand.

"How would you feel about sticking close to Klaus tonight, making him look like a caring, well-adjusted individual?" Caroline asked her daughter.

Josie nodded enthusiastically, reaching her other hand out to Klaus, who took it with a smile and an exaggerated bow that made Josie laugh.

"I can ask Rebekah to stop playing such obvious favorites with the twins if it bothers you," Klaus offered over Josie's head.

"Honestly, I'm just happy that your siblings like the girls as much as they do," Caroline said. "If it becomes a problem, I'll let you know, but they spend so much time together, and they've both become so close to Hope so quickly, that I don't think it's crippling to either of them that Rebekah is teaching Lizzie the Team Barbie secret handshake. Lizzie is yours and Rebekah's favorite, just because she happens to be blonde, and I'm sure that would have hurt Josie's feelings if Freya and Kol hadn't made an effort to show Josie extra attention to make up for it, Elijah treats them both with equal aloofness, and Hayley is slowly warming to them both equally. This isn't the most complicated or potentially harmful situation they've been in. I don't want to say something and put the idea in their heads that they should be hurt or offended if it hasn't occurred to them to feel that way. They haven't complained yet, but the second they do, I will let you know."

Caroline was glad that they weren't having this conversation with Lizzie holding their hands and walking between them, presenting the image to the partygoers of a perfect, angelic-looking, supernaturally beautiful golden-haired family. She knew that many of these people probably had never seen Hope in person, and while they might have mistaken Lizzie for Klaus's daughter, that wouldn't be the case her twin. If any of these strangers had to choose which Mikaelson Josie was most likely to be related to, most of them would guess Kol.

Caroline spent the next few hours talking to their guests, the subject of family never fully leaving her mind. The only other thing making her wary was that neither Vincent nor Marcel had come to the party. She'd double checked with Klaus, then with Freya, who was more comfortable with less attention and could search more inconspicuously, and neither of them and seen them either.

Caroline had seen Hayley and Hope, whose red hair made her visible in a crowd, having a lengthy, animated conversation with a tall, strong-looking, auburn-haired werewolf with green eyes so bright Caroline could see their color clearly from several feet away. She knew that Hayley was happy with Elijah, but when Hayley looked up and made eye contact with her, the high school cheerleader and notorious gossip in Caroline couldn't help mouthing "He's cute," to which Hayley responded by rolling her eyes and turning back to her conversation.

"You've outdone yourself with this party, love," Klaus praised. "It's perfect. No guests to my home have ever been so happy."

Everyone Caroline could see certainly looked happy. She was happy that the guests were happy, but it meant far more to her that Klaus was happy. Perhaps all she had done was thrown a party, but she'd felt like he considered her a partner, an equal, someone whose opinions and contributions were valued, rather than someone who would clean up the mess afterward.

Caroline thanked him, but before she could say anything else, Josie tugged on her hand and asked to use the bathroom.

On their way back into the party, Caroline saw a flash of red turning the corner, Hope's bright hair waving like a flag behind her.

"What a beautiful family," Caroline heard a tall woman in an aquamarine dress tell Hayley and Elijah, who were walking down the hallway with Hope between them. "Does she get that gorgeous red hair from mom's side of the family or from dad's?"

"I'm sorry, you've misunderstood. I'm not her father, I'm her uncle," Elijah said.

The woman, clearly human and in way over her head, looked mortified.

"I'm sorry, you looked like you were a family," the woman apologized, then hurried away.

Apparently not able to see Caroline where she stopped around the corner from them, Elijah turned to Hayley and sighed. Caroline didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but she couldn't get back to the courtyard without going past them, and she wanted to interrupt even less.

"This relationship isn't fair to my brother and his daughter," Elijah started.

"What are you talking about? Shouldn't I get to decide what's fair or not fair to my daughter?" Hayley asked. "Klaus and Hope aren't in this relationship, you and I are, and I want to be with you."

"I'm not telling you how to raise my niece, nor am I telling you how you should approach your relationship with my brother. I just don't want my brother to miss any part of being Hope's father, and I worry that may happen if people continue to confuse me for Hope's father, and I certainly would never want Hope to confuse me for her father," Elijah continued.

"Hope isn't confused, and she needs you as a stable male influence in her life. Klaus has never had any problem with us being together. If he doesn't think it's a problem, and I don't think it's a problem, why do you suddenly think it's a problem? It isn't a problem, and even if it was, I'm a part of this relationship too, I should get a say in whether or not it ends," Hayley shot back.

"I'm sorry Hayley, but I have to act in the best interest of my family, and it is in the best interest of my brother and his daughter that you and I end our romantic relationship. So that is what I must do. I'm sorry," Elijah said.

"So that's it? Our relationship is just over, like that?" Hayley asked, her voice flat and deliberately devoid of all emotion.

"Do you honestly think that we can just pick up where we left off after three years apart?" Elijah asked. "I'm a thousand-year-old vampire, Hayley, I'm never going to change. You once told me, at a moment when you were distraught and disgusted by your actions, that the violence you'd caused that night made you no better than a vampire, as if being a vampire was the most insulting thing you could think of being. You made it sound like you considered all vampires heartless murderers with no morals or conscience. Deep-rooted opinions like that don't just go away. That isn't who you should be with, that isn't who should be helping you raise Hope. The two of you deserve better than that, than me. I will always there for you and Hope, as Hope's uncle. That's the one role in your lives that I can never remove myself from, even though you both deserve better than me," Elijah concluded sadly, then walked upstairs, slamming his door behind him.

When Hayley followed Elijah towards the stairs, she could clearly see Caroline and Josie standing in the hallway.

Hayley's green eyes, bright with tears she refused to let fall, widened at the sight of the two of them.

Caroline stepped forward and put her hand on Hayley's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, and I'm here if you need me," Caroline promised, "We can talk about it if you want, or we can talk about how my former fiancé sacrificed his life for his brother and his ex-girlfriend. Either way, your secret's safe with me."

Then Caroline removed her hand from Hayley's shoulder and used it to mime zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

"Thanks," Hayley said in a cold, emotionless voice.

"We're going to go back to the party now, are you coming?" Caroline asked.

"I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'm not really in a party mood anymore," Hayley answered.

"Well, that is certainly a healthier response than going back in there and drinking all of the alcohol left at this party in an attempt to forget everything," Caroline acknowledged. "Or what I did when I decided not to go through with my wedding to Stefan."

"What did you do, Little Miss Perfect? Reorganized your spice rack out of alphabetical order? Hit the snooze button twice? Signed an email with 'sincerely' instead of 'sincerely yours?'" Hayley asked, bursting into sarcastic laughter.

"I drove to New Orleans," Caroline corrected bluntly, not offended by Hayley's mocking. "I came here, and I decided that because I couldn't make anything else in my life work, I would dedicate my time and effort to freeing Klaus, because I lost my father too young, and I didn't have a happy family for myself, and I couldn't make a happy family for the twins, so I wanted desperately to give Hope her happy family again. I just wanted to do something right for the first time in what felt like a really long time."

"You're a better person than me," Hayley admitted. "When I'm miserable, I want everyone around me to be miserable too so that I don't feel like the only one who's suffering. But you want other people to be happy when you aren't happy, so that at least someone can be happy. And I thought you were shallow."

"You aren't the first to call me that, and I'm sure you aren't the last," Caroline told her. "If anyone asks where you went, I'll tell them you had to put Hope to bed."

"Thanks, Caroline," Hayley said, walking with Hope up the stairs and into Hope's room.

Caroline looked down at Josie, who had been silent since they'd first overheard Elijah talking. "Let's go back to the party," she told her daughter.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading!  
I would love to know what you thought of this chapter or of the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
Happy Holidays, everyone, and I'll see you next year!  
love,  
charlotte


	10. Chapter X: A Place to Call Home

Happy New Year, everyone!  
I hope everyone had a marvelous holiday, whatever it is you celebrate, if you celebrate anything at all(:  
Anyway, I promised to update as early as possible in 2018 (!) so here's Chapter Ten!

Thank you all very much for all of the reviews last chapter and all of the reviews from last year! I love that so many people are reading my story and offering their thoughts on it!

Alaric makes his return this chapter. I was surprised by the amount of interest readers seem to have in him. One of the plotlines of this chapter is Alaric and Caroline working out a tentative custody agreement for the twins, so he plays an important role in this chapter. On a related note, I've read some stories in which Caroline moves to New Orleans and the twins stay in Mystic Falls with Alaric, and I've read some stories in which Caroline takes the twins with her when she moves to New Orleans, but I personally find both of those scenarios unrealistic and out of character. I don't think that either Caroline or Alaric would voluntarily settle for seeing their children on holidays and during the summer. I think they would both want to split the twins' time between them as evenly as possible, so that's what I've decided they'll do. I hope that's okay with all of you.

Also, I probably should have said this before now, but after ten chapters together we're friends now, right? If you are so inclined, you can contact me on my tumblr-my URL there is the same as my username here: 'thatsanotherlovestory.' I still of course encourage everyone to review, because I love reading reviews, but sending me messages there might be a more convenient option for those of you looking for a more detailed answer to a specific question, or if you'd like a response sooner than my next author's note, or if you have a question/comment/concern that isn't strictly limited to feedback on a chapter of this story. Plus, you can send anonymous messages there and I can answer them, whereas I can't respond if you leave a review as a guest. I just thought I would give you all the option, and you can communicate with me on whichever platform you prefer.

It's a good thing my New Year's resolution wasn't to write shorter author's notes, because I've already failed.  
Happy reading!

* * *

Klaus was just starting to wonder if a child's trip to the restroom could possibly take as long as Caroline and Josie had been gone, when they came walking up to him.

"What took you so long?" he asked, picking Josie up.

"We ran into Hayley and we talked to her for a little while," Caroline said. "She went to get Hope ready for bed. Which means I think it's time for the twins to call it a night as well."

"But Mommy," Josie whined.

"You have already been allowed to stay up way past your bedtime, young lady," Caroline scolded.

"Let's go see if we can steal your sister from your sister," Caroline said to Josie, turning to Klaus as she kept talking. "I don't think Lizzie had left Rebekah's side all evening. At least she's in good hands with an Original vampire babysitter."

Klaus led them over to where Lizzie and Rebekah were talking to Freya.

"I'd like my daughter back, if that's all right with you," Caroline told Rebekah.

"If I must part with her," Rebekah sighed, picking Lizzie up and placing her in Caroline's arms. "Are you leaving already?"

"Yes, it's past bedtime for the three-year-olds among us," Caroline said, "Say goodnight, girls."

Lizzie and Josie said goodnight to Rebekah and Freya, then Klaus and Caroline took them upstairs to the guest room they were sharing.

Caroline quickly changed them into their pajamas and tucked them into bed. After Caroline turned out the light and closed the door behind her, Klaus turned to face her.

"Will you tell me what really happened?" Klaus asked.

"What do you mean?" Caroline tried to stall.

"I can tell when you're lying to me, sweetheart, and I know that you didn't just stop to make small talk with Hayley," Klaus said.

"I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone," Caroline told him. "And we're actually getting along at the moment; I don't want to jeopardize that."

Klaus just looked at her for a long moment, his eyes boring into hers like he was searching for something within them. When Caroline tried to pull away, Klaus gently took hold of her jaw and softly stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"You're a far better friend to her than she deserves," Klaus said. "You're far better to all of us than we deserve. But if you realized how much better you deserve than us, you would leave, and I don't know how we would survive that."

"Where would I go?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

"I can tell you that in my nightmares you find some saint-like king, who's richer than Midas, who buys you diamonds every day just to see the way they make your eyes sparkle," Klaus confesses in a slightly choked voice.

"You know better than anyone how graciously I accept gifts of diamonds," Caroline teased softly.

"You should try to get some rest, love," Klaus said.

"Okay."

Caroline shuffled into her room and changed into flannel pajamas before taking down her hair and cleaning off her makeup. Then she got into bed, where she tossed and turned for hours before she was able to fall asleep.

{ }

The next morning, Caroline drifted downstairs and found the twins in the dining room eating breakfast with Hope, while Klaus, Rebekah, Freya, and Kol sat with them.

"Good morning everyone," Caroline said.

"Hello, Caroline," Klaus greeted.

"How did you all enjoy the party last night?" Caroline asked.

"It was great; you sure know how to plan a party," Kol complimented.

"Thanks," Caroline replied. "How late did the party end up going anyway?"

"The last of us finally called it quits at about 3 a.m." Kol said.

"And Marcel never showed up?" Caroline asked incredulously.

Kol shook his head. "I never saw him," he confirmed.

"I'm sorry," Caroline apologized to Klaus.

"Why are you apologizing, love? You've done nothing wrong. The party was wonderful; you were brilliant as always," Klaus praised.

"But the point of the party was to lure him here and show off how rich and powerful you are, and I couldn't do that, because he didn't come to the party!" Caroline cried.

"Which isn't your fault," Klaus insisted.

"You are perfect," he said, kissing the back of her hand and then her forehead. "And he missed out. I hate to see you upset and blaming yourself when he isn't worth it. And now this conversation is over."

"Are you working on another plan?" Caroline asked.

"I always have another plan, love," Klaus assured her. "There's no need for you to worry."

Just then, Hayley trudged into the dining room wearing a dark green tank top and green and blue flannel pajama pants, clearly hoping to sneak in and out without anyone noticing, but as she entered the room, everyone turned to look at her.

"Hi," she said quietly, quickly filling a glass with water and leaving the room.

"That was weird," Kol said.

"I guess she doesn't want to hear your plan," Caroline said, hoping to deflect anyone from asking why Hayley was really upset.

"I wasn't going to tell her my plan," Klaus replied. "I'll tell you my plan, but not in front of the children."

"Dad!" Hope whined.

"It isn't anything personal against her," Klaus reassured Hope and Caroline. "It's just that she plays her own role in the supernatural politics of the city, and if I can keep her from being involved in my plans, it keeps us from being at odds or putting Hope in the middle of a conflict."

"Oh yeah, because of her being the queen of her werewolf pack, right?" Caroline confirmed.

"She told you about that?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah, she was explaining how her werewolf instincts are why she's such a protective mother, and that as the queen of her pack it's her job to protect her pack, and Hope is part of the pack," Caroline explained.

"Did she threaten you?" Klaus demanded.

"No," Caroline said.

"Then why did she tell you that?" Klaus asked impatiently.

"She doesn't want me to be Hope's evil stepmother," Caroline confessed. "She wants control over my involvement in Hope's life, and she wants me to be sure that I'm ready to commit for good before I get involved with you, and therefore Hope as well."

It wasn't until she finished speaking that she noticed that everyone else had silently left the room. Caroline was glad for the privacy.

"I trust you completely," Klaus assured her. "Especially with Hope. I'm sure Hayley will let her guard down after she sees for herself how trustworthy you are and things settle down here enough that she realizes she doesn't have to be so paranoid anymore."

Caroline agreed, but she wasn't as confident as Klaus was.

"Now that we've gotten that over with, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" Klaus asked.

"The twins and I have plans to call Alaric later," Caroline said. "He'll catch up with the girls, then he and I have to work out some sort of custody arrangement for them, and I have to ask him to ship more of our stuff down here. I packed everything we couldn't live without when we left, but we could use some more clothes," she explained.

Klaus thought for a moment.

"Rebekah wanted to take Lizzie and Josie on a tour of New Orleans. Does she have time to take them this morning?" he asked.

"He's supposed to call at three; she has almost six hours to show them the city," Caroline answered.

"I'll take Hope and go along to keep her on track," Klaus decided.

"All right, thanks," Caroline said.

{ }

Four hours later, Rebekah, Klaus, Hope, and the twins returned, laden with shopping bags.

"What is all of this?" Caroline asked.

"You said that you and the twins needed some clothes," Klaus replied matter-of-factly.

Klaus and Rebekah were each carrying what looked like at least a dozen bags, from several different stores. Klaus handed a few of his over to Caroline so she could look at the contents.

There were more dresses, shirts, pants, skirts, and shoes than the girls could possibly wear before they outgrew them. And that was only a small fraction of what they'd bought.

Rebekah led everyone into the dining room so that they would have space to sort all of the clothing. Everyone holding bags unceremoniously upended them on the table, forming a huge mountain of clothing that covered the entire surface.

"Is there any clothing left in New Orleans?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

"Only the things that didn't come in their sizes," Rebekah answered.

The three girls reached into the pile, pulling out things that they'd chosen. Under what was surely Rebekah's influence, Lizzie's pile was primarily bubblegum pink, with much of it sparkly or patterned with hearts. Josie's pile also featured a large amount of pink, but she'd collected a more varied array of colors than her sister. Klaus hadn't needed to buy Hope as many new clothes as he had bought the twins, since she had packed all of her clothes from the safe house, but she still had a substantial amount of clothing, much of which was purple, blue, and green, which both complimented her red hair and bright blue eyes, and celebrated her newfound love for _The Little Mermaid_.

"I was uncomfortable with the idea of you buying them one dress for the party. What makes you think that I would be okay with you buying them entirely new wardrobes?" Caroline asked.

"That's why I didn't ask you first," Klaus asked. "I'm not going to apologize for trying to take care of you and your children."

Caroline sighed.

"Girls, did you thank Klaus and Rebekah for taking you shopping?" Caroline asked, resigned.

"Thank you!" the twins chorused, running over to hug them both.

The girls looked so happy, both at having new clothes and at having spent all morning shopping with Klaus and Rebekah, that Caroline decided not to fight with Klaus anymore about her discomfort with him spending so much money on her and her children.

"I hope you made sure the girls know that these shopping sprees won't be a regular thing," Caroline told Klaus, knowing that Rebekah was listening as well. "I don't want to fight with anyone else today, but it makes me uncomfortable when you spend so much money on us. I'm a grown woman, I'm responsible for myself and for my daughters. We aren't your responsibility. They aren't your children, and I'm not your trophy wife, so I would appreciate it if, in the future, you didn't treat me like I am."

Klaus looked taken aback, but nodded in understanding. Rebekah was watching the scene with keen interest, and the girls had frozen in place, turned around to look at her with dresses in their hands.

Caroline noticed that a few bags had been left on chairs around the table.

"What are in those bags?" Caroline asked.

"Bedding for the three of you, and stuffed animals for the girls," Klaus answered.

Earlier that week, Klaus had replaced the crib in Hope's room with a twin-sized bed, and the queen-sized bed in the guest room Lizzie and Josie were staying in with two twin-sized beds. While Hope had taken her bedding and décor from her room at the safe house, the twins hadn't been able to keep any of the decorations from the guest room they'd stayed in or their rooms in Mystic Falls.

Lizzie pulled out light pink blankets and sheets, a light pink comforter patterned with brighter pink hearts, and a stuffed Marie from _The Aristocats_. Josie took out a white comforter with a dark pink floral print, white sheets and blankets, and a stuffed Lady from _Lady and the Tramp_.

"Okay, girls, when you're done finding your clothes, bring them upstairs to your room; we're supposed to talk to your dad in a little while," Caroline told them.

Caroline took the bag with her bedding and a change of clothes from the pile before leaving the room and heading up the stairs.

{ }

For Lizzie and Josie, the phone call with Alaric was a success. They told their father all about how they loved New Orleans and how they'd managed to save the Mikaelsons and now considered them all good friends, except for Elijah, whose uptight sternness made them a little uncomfortable. They cheerfully talked about the party they'd attended the night before, and shopping with Klaus and Rebekah earlier that day.

For Caroline, the phone call with Alaric was stilted and awkward.

"I don't think I'm ever coming back to Mystic Falls," Caroline confessed.

"I can't say that surprises me," Alaric replied.

"So we need to agree on some sort of custody arrangement for the girls," Caroline proposed.

Alaric paused.

"We have to shuffle the girls back and forth between us like divorced parents?" he asked.

"We aren't together, Ric," Caroline said as gently as she could. "We aren't together, and we aren't meant to be together. You were my high school history teacher, and you were a sort of father figure to my best friend. And you tortured me, and killed my father. There is no way that we would ever get married and be a happy family," she explained.

"I guess you're right," Alaric conceded.

"When you told me to come here, I thought that you were okay with it. I thought that we were in agreement that our first priority is the girls' safety. I thought that you were trying to do what was best for them, even if that meant that you wouldn't be able to see them for a while. We have to trust that they know that they have two parents who love them, even though their parents don't live in the same town anymore," Caroline said.

"Well, they may never want to come back to Mystic Falls if the Mikaelsons keep spoiling them," Alaric complained.

"I've asked him to stop, but he refuses," Caroline said.

"Well, who knows if they'll even want me anymore now that they have their ultra-rich stepfather buying them anything they want," Alaric continued to gripe.

"It isn't like that," Caroline rushed to correct him.

"Of course it isn't," Alaric placated. "And I'm glad he's being decent to them. The only person I can remember him actually being nice to was you."

There was an awkward pause as they each considered what they should say to answer that.

"I'm sure that we can come up with an arrangement that's fair to both of us and is only minimally disruptive to the girls. And it will only be for a limited amount of time anyway, since we'll have to adjust it once the girls start school. How about we each brainstorm some agreements that seem fair and we can compare notes later this week?" Alaric proposed.

Caroline agreed, and hung up the phone with a cordial goodbye.

{ }

When Caroline ended her phone call and went to find the twins, she found them with Hope and Klaus, hanging up their new clothes in their closets.

"Hi Mommy," Lizzie called out.

"Hi Caroline," Hope echoed.

Klaus seemed to sense Caroline's unease and led her downstairs and into the kitchen.

"What happened?" Klaus asked.

"I have to come up with a proposal for a custody agreement for the twins, and then Alaric and I will negotiate later this week," Caroline explained.

"I'm sure that you will do all you can to make your daughters as safe and happy as possible," Klaus assured her. "So why are you so upset by the premise?"

"Alaric seemed reluctant to accept that we aren't together and I'm not going to go back to Mystic Falls," Caroline admitted.

"Does he realize that you would have to leave Mystic Falls eventually anyway, so that people don't get suspicious that you never appear to age?" Klaus asked. "And your own parents were divorced and lived in different towns, and you were content with that arrangement, were you not? You don't seem to suffer from any lasting trauma as a result of your parents not being in a romantic relationship for your entire childhood."

"That's easy for you to say when your whole family lives in the same house, including your daughter's mother. Hope hasn't gone a day without seeing both of her parents since you've been back in her life. If she doesn't see you both every day, it's because something has gone terribly wrong," Caroline countered.

"Perhaps you've noticed, love, things go terribly wrong fairly often around my family," Klaus said.

"I just don't want them to think that I'm choosing to leave them," Caroline started. "For years, I haven't really had that many choices in my life. I didn't even choose to have children, then all of a sudden my entire life was a balancing act between what Stefan wanted, what Alaric wanted, and what the twins needed, and no one cared what I wanted or needed. And I don't hold that against the girls, they didn't know any better, but I worry that he's going to try to take them away from me and just expect me to go along with it like I have since I was pregnant," she continued.

"You know that I won't allow him to do that," Klaus promised.

"This is between him and me," Caroline insisted. "He's already worried that you buying the girls anything they want will make them like you more than him. If you get involved with this, he'll be even more uncomfortable."

"If that's what you want," Klaus agreed. "Do you have any ideas for how to divide the girls' time between you?"

"I'm not sure because we'll have to change their schedule once they start school anyway. Then one of us will have them for the school year, the other will have them for the summer, and we'll each take half of the holidays. It's only about a three hour flight from New Orleans to Virginia, but once you count driving to the airport, going through security, then driving to Mystic Falls from the airport, the trip would take most of the day, so they can't really travel back and forth on weekends," Caroline brainstormed.

"And you want to be the one who spends the larger portion of the year with them," Klaus assumed.

"I think so," Caroline said. "They're too young for me to ask them what they want. But I don't think Alaric would allow that. I haven't exactly always been an exceptionally attentive parent. There were times when I should have put the girls first when I decided that keeping Stefan from going off the rails or cleaning up after him was more important."

Klaus looked… disappointed. Caroline could understand why. He never prioritized anything over his daughter, and she had put taking care of a man who had been a vampire for over a century and should have known how to take care of himself before taking care of her children. She had come to realize that when she'd been with Stefan, she'd returned to being insecure human Caroline, who was willing to sacrifice herself and her goals if it meant keeping the attention of a boy she liked. She'd made excuses for him, ignored her friends and daughters, and forgiven him for things that should have made her walk away for good.

"And, if we're on the subject of things he can use against me…" Caroline trailed off.

"You are their mother," Klaus insisted, immediately knowing what she meant. "You carried them to term, you gave birth to them, you raised them. Just because they don't share your DNA doesn't mean you aren't their mother."

"Thanks."

"I only have one more thing to say on this subject," Klaus said.

"Which is?" Caroline asked.

"Don't settle for less than you deserve."

{ }

"I don't mean to tell you what to do," Alaric said, in a voice that clearly meant to tell her what to do, over the phone two days later. "But I really think it would be best for all of us if you all came back to Mystic Falls. The twins could live in the house they're used to, in the town they're used to, with both of their parents."

"I can't stay in Mystic Falls for much longer, even if all of my friends weren't either dead, or in magical comas, or trying desperately to eliminate all things supernatural from their lives. It's very hard to hide that you aren't aging in a small town where the librarian has known you since you were two and knows exactly how old you're supposed to be," Caroline explained.

"Just because you've rejected Mystic Falls as your home, doesn't mean it isn't still my home, or that it can't still be the girls' home," Alaric argued.

"I'm not denying that," Caroline said.

"The girls haven't said anything to me specifically about missing home, but I think that they see this trip to New Orleans as a vacation. I don't think they think that they've moved out of state permanently," Alaric mentioned.

Caroline hadn't considered that. The girls had adjusted so well to living in New Orleans that she hadn't realized that they may not know that she intended to stay there, even if the twins eventually returned to Mystic Falls to live with their father at least part of the time.

"You've had them with you for two weeks," Alaric stated. "I want to spend two weeks with them here, so that all four of us have an understanding of what this family being split up into two households is like, before we make any permanent decisions. If this works, we can keep alternating two-week periods for the time being, and if it doesn't, we'll at least have a frame of reference."

Caroline agreed that Alaric's request seemed fair, and they made the logistical arrangements for Caroline to accompany the girls on their flight to Virginia the next afternoon, where Alaric would meet them at the airport, then Caroline would fly back to New Orleans that evening.

When Caroline informed Klaus of her plan, he thought that it was convoluted and would be disruptive for the twins, but while Caroline was inclined to agree, she also didn't have a better solution.

{ }

When Caroline returned from the airport after spending the day flying from New Orleans to Virginia and back, it was dark outside. She parked her car back in the garage and walked around to the gate.

Klaus had offered to drive her and the girls to the airport and then pick her up when she returned, but Caroline hadn't wanted to lean on him as she dropped her children off to stay with their father. Alaric was already worried enough about the twins' developing relationship with Klaus, she didn't want to him to think that she was becoming dependent on Klaus as well. She had to do this on her own.

Through the darkness, Caroline could see the silhouettes of Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, Kol, Freya, Hope, and Hayley in the courtyard, as well as two other figures facing away from her. The Mikaelsons and Hayley were standing facing the gate, standing in a loose horseshoe shape with Klaus at the center, Rebekah and Elijah flanking him.

The two men who were facing them turned around to look at Caroline. Caroline recognized the man standing closest to her as Vincent, who gave her an almost apologetic look as their eyes met.

The other man Caroline had only seen once, and had never spoken to. She had seen him leave Klaus's house with Vincent the day she'd arrived in New Orleans.

This was the man who had held Klaus hostage in his own home.

"It's nice of you to join us," he said. "You must be Caroline."

* * *

Sorry!

Thank you very much for reading!  
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review! I can't wait to read the first reviews of 2018!

love,  
charlotte


	11. Chapter XI: The Company We Keep

Hi!(: I hadn't planned to update this chapter until tomorrow, but I finished the chapter I was working on last night and I'm really excited for you to eventually read it and I didn't want to postpone for another day!

Thank you so much for all of the reviews on the last chapter! I received some really lovely thoughtful, thorough, and detailed reviews, which thrilled me to see! I am so fortunate to have readers who will invest their time and effort to share their insightful, in-depth commentary on my story with me!

I feel like a sort of led some of you astray with my comments about Lizzie looking like Klaus and Caroline's daughter... I didn't mean to imply that she's actually biologically related to either of them, all I meant was that her coloring is similar enough to theirs that they look like they could be related. I'm not messing with biology to somehow make Caroline the twins' biological mother as well. I'm not a scientist and I would be in way over my head if I tried, but I love your ingenuity and creativity, those of you who suggested it!  
Several reviews included assumptions about certain information this chapter includes, and this chapter actually includes... none of it. Sorry. We don't see what Marcel was up to since we last saw him and we don't see Caroline in Virginia. But someone did ask for supernatural backup for Caroline, and we are on the same page there(:

Someone asked why Caroline is still pushing Klaus away. The short answer is because she's scared. Klaus's love for Caroline is permanent, and resolute, and overwhelming, and Caroline isn't quite sure she's ready for that, especially since every other relationship she's ever had has ended with her getting her heart broken. For most of the story so far, Caroline has been locked into survival mode, just trying to keep the girls safe, and save Klaus, and revive his siblings, and plan the party, so she hasn't had time to sit and sort out her feelings. She will soon, though (that's why I'm so excited for everyone to read the chapter I just finished).

Caroline quotes my favorite line from _The Vampire Diaries_ in this chapter. I feel like it sums up Klaus and Caroline's relationship (which is probably why I love it so much).

One last thing and then I'll shut up and let you read, I promise. I feel like I should warn you that this chapter is the calm before the storm. Chapters twelve and thirteen are full of conflict and angst (pretty mild conflict and angst because it's me, but still).

Okay, happy reading!

* * *

"My name is Marcel Gerard," Marcel introduced himself.

"I'm Caroline Forbes," Caroline responded.

"Where are your little girls?" he asked.

"They're with their father," she answered.

"That's too bad, I would have liked to meet them," Marcel said.

"You can't always get what you want," Caroline deadpanned.

"What's going on here?" Caroline asked Klaus, who didn't look scared, but certainly wasn't standing with his usual confidence.

"Marcel was quite upset that he missed your party, love," Klaus answered.

"You were in charge of the guest list, did you not invite him?" Caroline asked.

"I'm sure I did; he just couldn't make it," Klaus said.

During the exchange, Caroline had moved to join the gathering, standing on the end next to Freya and employing the self-preservation tactic she'd been using since she'd arrived in New Orleans: minimizing her importance to Klaus. Caroline shared a concerned look with Rebekah, who gave a subtle nod to show that she understood why Caroline hadn't stood in the wide gap between Rebekah and Hayley, who was holding Hope close to her side, putting a noticeable space between them and the Mikaelsons.

"I don't want to start a fight with you," Marcel stated. "But I also have no plans to give up control of the city. Everyone's been much happier now that the Mikaelsons aren't in power."

"Then what are you suggesting?" Elijah asked.

"A truce," Marcel said. "If you don't try to take the city from me, I won't fight you. You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't try to steal New Orleans from out from under me."

"What makes you think we'll agree to that?" Kol asked.

"We built this city, you're just the regent in our absence," Elijah said. "Why should we agree to these terms and allow you to keep what is rightfully ours?"

"Because I want you to help negotiate the terms of the cease-fire," Marcel said. "You want control over what happens in the city, and I want to be able to live my life without constantly wondering if one of you is going to come up behind me and stab me in the back. You didn't like my rules; fine, let's work together to make them better. We'll agree on one person to represent each of the supernatural species, we'll work out a deal to best suit each of their interests, and Klaus and I will oversee the whole thing to make sure we're both happy with the agreement. How does that sound?" he asked.

"Excuse me," Caroline interjected. "Shouldn't someone be representing the interests of the ordinary humans of New Orleans who are just trying to live their ordinary human lives? If you're going to be signing a treaty that dictates, say, how many humans vampires are allowed to drink from in a month, shouldn't someone be looking out for the humans you're planning on using for food?"

"Since you're so passionate about the subject, that can be your job," Marcel said. "Hayley can represent the wolves, I trust her to keep them in line."

Hayley nodded confidently.

Marcel walked forward and paced across their half circle from Rebekah across to Freya.

"But I don't trust any of you," he said. "So whoever you choose to represent the vampires, you'll be working with Josh, and Freya and Vincent will both represent the witches. The eight of us will meet at my place, tomorrow at noon, to work out the agreement, however long it takes," Marcel finished ominously, looking directly at Klaus.

Then he and Vincent swept out of the courtyard without a backwards glance.

{ }

The second Marcel and Vincent were out of sight, Klaus rushed over to Caroline and pulled her into his arms.

"Why did he say that?" Caroline whispered. "How did he know to say that? How did he know what that meant?"

"I don't know," Klaus whispered back. "But it doesn't mean any less now. I'm still going to keep my promise to you. I won't let him take that away from you, and I won't let him hurt you," Klaus promised.

Caroline nodded frantically as Klaus swiped his thumbs under her eyes, wiping away the few tense tears that had been building since she arrived and had finally fallen.

The others had moved closer and gathered around them, forming an oddly misshapen circle.

"What is our plan, Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

Klaus sighed, not loosening his hold on Caroline, but allowing her to turn slightly so as to see everyone else.

"For now at least, we have to cooperate. None of us want any more bloodshed. If it turns out that this is a trap, or he refuses to meet our demands, we can always declare war later, but if we do that first, we've squandered our chance at a diplomatic solution," Klaus advised.

"And we have to decide which of us will be our vampire representative," Rebekah reminded them.

"All right," Klaus agreed. "Let's put it to a vote. Since I'm overseeing this, I'll count the votes, and I won't vote. Everyone else close your eyes so that no one knows how anyone else is voting."

They all did so, with Caroline untangling herself from Klaus so that she could move.

"Your options are Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol. You can only vote once, and you can vote for yourself if you'd like," Klaus continued.

After they'd voted, everyone opened their eyes to see Klaus glaring at them.

"It's a tie between Elijah and Rebekah," he said. "Kol, you're the tiebreaker. Elijah or Rebekah?"

Caroline had voted for Rebekah. She knew that Rebekah could be quite convincing when she wanted to be, though she wasn't sure how well her tactics of flirting or threatening to get what she wanted would work on her adoptive nephew, but if they didn't, Rebekah would be able to come up with something else. Plus, she knew that if the twins had been present, they would have voted for Rebekah.

"Why do I have to be the tiebreaker?" Kol complained.

"Because you're the only one who voted for you," Klaus informed him.

Everyone else sheepishly avoided looking at Kol.

"Fine," Kol said. "I'll vote for Rebekah."

"Now we need to develop our strategy," Elijah said, seemingly not offended by his loss in their impromptu election.

"We should move inside for that," Klaus said. "I don't like the idea of discussing strategy out in the open."

As everyone moved towards the dining room, Elijah stopped next to Klaus and Caroline.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, Caroline, could I perhaps speak with you for a few moments before we get started?" Elijah asked.

Caroline shared a confused look with Klaus. What could Elijah possibly want to talk to her about?

"All right," Caroline agreed uncertainly.

Elijah led Caroline away from the group and into his study, closing the door behind him.

"I've been meaning to speak to you since we returned to New Orleans, but I didn't want to interrupt your time with your children," Elijah started.

"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Caroline asked.

"I need you to tell me what happened to Katerina."

{ }

Caroline just stared at Elijah, having not anticipated that request.

"I'm not sure that I'm the best person to ask; I wasn't there with her when she died, the first time or the second time," Caroline answered.

"Perhaps you should start there. What do you mean, the first and second times that she died?" Elijah asked.

"A few years ago, Elena gave Katherine the cure, making her human. Because she'd been alive for five hundred years, it wasn't long until she was essentially dying of old age. But she used a specific type of magic to move herself into Elena's body, so even after we all thought she was dead, she was tricking us all and pretending to be Elena. Klaus and Rebekah were both there when she was dying, so I'm surprised they didn't tell you anything. I mean, they must have known that you cared about her. It would at least be the considerate thing to do to let you know she died," Caroline said.

"I appreciate that, but no, they didn't tell me. Though I do remember Niklaus being in an exceptionally good mood when he returned from Mystic Falls, so maybe I should have realized that one of his enemies must have perished," Elijah responded.

Caroline willed herself not to blush.

"Once we figured out that it was Katherine in Elena's body, then figured out how to get Katherine out of Elena's body, she died the first time. And even though she killed me, I still felt kind of sad that she died. All she'd ever done was try to survive, and most of the time she had to do it alone," Caroline continued.

"I appreciate that," Elijah said again, this time with a more solemn, but somehow warmer tone.

"The second time she died was a few weeks ago. She decided to get revenge on Stefan, Damon, and Elena-all of Mystic Falls, really-so she plotted to destroy the town using hellfire. Stefan and Damon had the idea that they would lure Katherine to Mystic Falls with mine and Stefan's wedding, counting on Katherine being jealous. But then that day, I decided that I deserved better than having a hastily thrown together wedding to a fiancé who cared about his brother and his ex-girlfriend far more than he ever cared about me, so I took Lizzie and Josie and I left. After I left, my friend Bonnie came up with a plan to save the town, but it also involved Stefan and Katherine being destroyed by the hellfire instead. She used the hellfire to destroy hell also, so I think that everyone there, including Katherine, just sort of ceased to exist. But I'm not completely sure, I'm not an expert," Caroline finished.

"Thank you for your explanation," Elijah said in a restrained voice. "So you think that there's no way to revive her?"

"I'm sorry," Caroline said, shaking her head. "And I'm sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to lose someone you've cared about for hundreds of years."

"Thank you," Elijah replied stiffly.

"Is there anything else want to know about that night? I don't know everything because I wasn't there, but I can tell you what I know," Caroline offered.

"You said that the Salvatores' plan to lure Mystic Falls was reliant upon Katerina being jealous and of Stefan marrying you?" Elijah asked with a barely noticeable wince.

"That was about Elena," Caroline said, not knowing for certain if she was correct in her analysis of Katherine's motivations, but deciding that if she could make Elijah feel even a little better about the situation, she would at least try. "She was trying to retaliate against Elena, and prove to her that as much as the Salvatores loved Elena, Katherine could get them to choose her."

"Then, to your knowledge, she didn't say anything about…" Elijah trailed off.

"I don't think so," Caroline said. "I'm sorry."

"I appreciate the information you have given me," Elijah said formally.

"Of course," Caroline replied. "I'm sorry it wasn't what you wanted to hear. And if you think of anything else you want to know later, I'm here."

"Thank you," Elijah said again.

When Caroline turned to leave the room, Elijah called her name, stopping her from leaving.

"Did you forgive her for everything she did to you?" he asked.

"I did," Caroline told him. "I didn't ask to be turned into a vampire, and I certainly didn't ask to be turned so that I could be used in a sacrifice, but I think I'm better off as a vampire."

Elijah nodded.

"Did you forgive her for everything she did to you?" Caroline asked.

"There was never any question that I would forgive her," Elijah answered. "Whatever her transgressions, I always found that I loved her too much not to forgive her."

"You don't have to stop loving someone when they die," Caroline said. "And you don't have to explain yourself or your feelings to me. It's not a crime to love what you cannot explain. No one understands that better than I do."

"Thank you Caroline."

{ }

When Caroline and Elijah rejoined the others in the dining room, they were already deep in conversation as they planned for the next day's negotiations. Klaus sat at the head of the table, and Elijah promptly took his place at Klaus's right. The chair on Klaus's left was empty, with Hope sitting on the other side of the unoccupied seat, and Hayley next to her. Rebekah, Freya, and Kol sat on Elijah's other side.

Caroline, trying not to be disruptive, moved to quietly slip into the chair on the end next to Kol, but Klaus noticed her and said, "I want you next to me, love," and gestured towards the saved seat between him and Hope.

Elijah and Kol, who wouldn't be attending the meeting the next day, had been tasked with guarding the Mikaelsons' home, making sure that the negotiations weren't just a ruse to provide a distraction for an attack.

Hayley had already been given her instructions before Caroline and Elijah entered the room, but from the summary Klaus told Elijah, Caroline learned that Klaus's only request had been that Hayley not try anything drastic. Klaus was apparently content with the current restrictions on the werewolves.

"Caroline, love, you might have to settle for some concessions that might make you uncomfortable," Klaus informed her. "But try to remember that for most vampires here humans are just a food source, and though we don't go out of our way to harm them, most of us don't really care if they get hurt as long as we get fed."

Caroline nodded, expecting instructions of that nature.

Klaus stood up, kissed the top of Caroline's head, then picked up Hope and carried her around the table to where Freya was sitting.

"You know what to do?" Klaus asked his older sister.

"As much freedom to practice magic as we can get, and a guarantee that Marcel won't get any witches to use magic against us," Freya recited.

Klaus and Hope moved over to Rebekah.

"And I know you know what you're doing," Klaus said.

Rebekah just beamed up at him.

"All right then, meeting adjourned. Everyone be ready by eleven. We need to present a united front, and we can't do that if anyone is late," Klaus ordered.

Just as she was getting up from the table, Caroline's phone rang.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Hi, Caroline!" Bonnie's cheerful voice came over the line.

"Bonnie! I haven't heard from you in days! How are you? Where are you?" Caroline asked.

"I'm great, and I'm in New Orleans, looking for you," Bonnie answered.

"You're here?!" Caroline exclaimed. "I can give you directions to the house; it's the obnoxiously large one with the 'M' on the gate."

Caroline gave Bonnie directions to the house, then hung up so that Bonnie could drive her rental car over to the Mikaelsons' home.

After she hung up, she walked over to Klaus.

"So the witch is coming here," Klaus said.

"Is that okay?" Caroline asked warily.

"Of course, you're welcome to invite anyone you'd like," Klaus said.

Within a few minutes, an unfamiliar car approached and parked on the street in front of the house. Bonnie got out of the car and approached the gate. As soon as she was in the courtyard, Caroline was running forward and throwing her arms around her friend.

"Where are the girls?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"They are in Mystic Falls with their father," Caroline answered. "It's a long story."

"Okay," Bonnie replied. "Um, hi Klaus," she greeted uncertainly.

"Hello, Bonnie," Klaus responded.

"Is that…?" Bonnie trailed off.

"Yeah, that's Hope," Caroline said, having barely noticed herself that Klaus was still carrying his daughter, but to Bonnie, the sight of Klaus holding a little girl would have been unnerving. "Hope, this is my best friend Bonnie."

"Hi," Hope said quietly.

"Bonnie is a witch, too, Hope," Caroline said.

"Okay, you need to catch me up on everything that's been going on since you got here," Bonnie insisted.

"Let's go to my room, we can have a slumber party, like when we were kids!" Caroline suggested excitedly.

Bonnie readily agreed.

"Goodnight, my little mermaid," Caroline said, leaning in to give Hope a hug. Hope giggled at the term of endearment Caroline had given her after the twins had insisted she looked the title character of the movie that she now loved.

"Goodnight, Klaus," Caroline said, and Klaus hugged her and kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight, love," Klaus replied. "Remember that we're leaving at eleven tomorrow, so please be ready."

"All right," Caroline said. "Let's go!"

{ }

"I can't believe you have your own room in Klaus's house," Bonnie said.

"A month ago, I wouldn't have believed it either," Caroline agreed.

"Did you redecorate yourself?" Bonnie asked.

"No, this was all Klaus, actually. He and Rebekah took the girls shopping the other day and came home with new clothes and bedding for the three of us," Caroline corrected.

"Wow," was all Bonnie said in response.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"He's just so different with you," Bonnie said. "He's so…soft. Like when he kissed you goodnight just now, it was so sweet and loving. He really loves you, Care."

"He's really sweet with the twins, too," Caroline confessed. "He's played games with them, and bought them stuffed animals, and he hangs on their every word like they're saying something life-changing."

"Has he mastered treating the twins equally, but as individuals?" Bonnie asked, since some of their friends had never advanced past treating the twins as one inseparable unit.

"He definitely sees them as individuals," Caroline said.

"What aren't you telling me there?" Bonnie asked.

"Lizzie is his favorite," Caroline started hesitantly. "I'm not really concerned, because half the Mikaelsons have chosen Lizzie as their favorite, and the other half picked Josie, and I know they all love both twins equally."

"Then why are you freaking out on me?" Bonnie asked.

"Because of why Lizzie is Klaus's favorite," Caroline answered. "It's because Lizzie looks like she could be ours."

Bonnie thought for a moment.

"I can see that," she said eventually. "The whole inhumanly beautiful, golden-haired, blue-eyed thing."

"You should see the look on his face when he sees me with her," Caroline told her friend. "He somehow looks elated and heartbroken at the same time. Like he sees us together and thinks, 'Look, it's the love of my life and our perfect, beautiful, precious daughter,' and then he realizes that she isn't."

"That's really intense," Bonnie sympathized. "But you know it's not your fault, right? You didn't choose to have children with Alaric and not Klaus. These are just the circumstances that you're in."

"I know," Caroline admitted.

"Let's move on to other topics: have you and Rebekah tried to kill each other yet?"

"No, we haven't," Caroline insisted. "Rebekah adores Lizzie as well, she sees her as her little Disney princess, Barbie doll mini-me. Lizzie's entire new wardrobe is bubblegum pink. Even if Rebekah only likes me because I brought the girls with me, I'll take it."

"Are you getting along with all of them?" Bonnie asked.

"For the most part," Caroline answered. "I'm obviously getting along with Klaus, Rebekah and I are on good terms, I'm not sure if Elijah likes me or not, but he's polite. The others you probably don't know. Apparently, a few years ago, Klaus discovered his long-lost older sister, Freya, who they all thought was dead, and she's great. She's calmer and nicer than the rest of the family. And Kol's back from the dead, and he's friendly."

"And?" Bonnie prompted.

"I'm still not quite sure where I stand with Hayley," Caroline admitted. "I'm trying to be friendly to her, and sometimes I think she's trying to reciprocate, and other times she treats me like she's the alpha wolf and I'm an interloper in her pack that must be removed."

"Why? Is she interested in Klaus? Is she jealous?" Bonnie asked.

"Not at all," Caroline said. "She was never interested in Klaus, apparently. She's just worried I'm going to try to steal Hope from her. That Klaus is going to decide I'm the better mother and want us to be a family and kick her out of it."

"Why would you do that? And how?" Bonnie questioned.

"I wouldn't, but she doesn't know that," Caroline answered. "She just sees me as a threat to her pack, so her instinct is to defend her pack. Whenever she talks to me, even if she's being cordial, there's this undercurrent of anger and defensiveness on her part."

"All you can do is keep being nice to her and hope she eventually sees that you aren't a threat," Bonnie told her.

"Yeah," Caroline agreed.

"Elijah asked me what happened to Katherine tonight," Caroline blurted out.

"What did you tell him?" Bonnie asked.

"I told him what I knew, what you'd told me. He wanted to know if there was any way to bring her back, but I told him I didn't think so," Caroline said.

"I don't think so either," Bonnie said. "But I didn't think there would be any way to bring Kol back from the dead either, and he's in this house, right now."

"Could you tell him that? I think it would mean a lot to him to know that there might be a way," Caroline said.

"Sure, but I don't want to get his hopes up," Bonnie agreed.

"You said the twins are with Alaric?" Bonnie changed the subject.

"Yeah, we're trying to work out a custody arrangement for them, and as much as Alaric wants me to, I'm not moving back to Mystic Falls. So, since I had the twins with me for two weeks, he wants to have them for two weeks to get a sense of what co-parenting the twins from different states will be like," Caroline explained.

"You've been separated before and it all ended up working out," Bonnie pointed out.

"I guess," Caroline reluctantly agreed. "I just don't want them to think that I chose this for them, you know? I don't want them to look at the Mikaelsons, all living in the same house, and think that they could have had that if it wasn't for their awful, selfish mother."

"I don't think they think that," Bonnie assured her. "And I'm not sure how healthy it is for the entire family to be in such close proximity all the time. I'm sure the twins know that you're trying to do the best you can. Which is all anyone can ask of you, especially since Caroline Forbes's best effort is on a whole other level from anyone else's best effort."

"Thanks, Bonnie," Caroline said.

"On that note, you should get some rest for whatever it is that you and Klaus are doing tomorrow," Bonnie said.

"We're negotiating a supernatural peace treaty in the city," Caroline informed her.

"What?"

"So Klaus's adopted son Marcel is ruling New Orleans, except Klaus used to rule New Orleans, so they were fighting over which one of them got to be king, and that's how Klaus ended up a hostage in his own dungeon. Now, Marcel wants some sort of agreement that the Mikaelsons won't attack him, and in exchange, he won't attack them, and we get to help make the new rules so the Mikaelsons won't feel the need to stage a hostile takeover," Caroline explained.

"How did you get involved in this?" Bonnie asked.

"I opened my big mouth," Caroline lamented. "I decided that someone needed to stand up for the humans, and I ended up with the job."

"You're doing this with representatives?" Bonnie asked.

"Partly. I'm representing humans, Freya's representing witches, Rebekah's representing vampires, and Hayley's representing werewolves. Then Klaus and Marcel are overseeing the whole thing to make sure everyone's happy with the agreement we come up with. Elijah and Kol are staying here to guard the house in case this whole thing turns out to be an elaborate ruse to attack us. Since Marcel doesn't know you, it's probably better for you to stay here," Caroline recommended.

"I can do that," Bonnie agreed. "Goodnight, sleeping beauty."

Caroline laughed.

"That's Lizzie, according to the girls," she said.

"Which explains the little mermaid thing," Bonnie said.

"Hope had never seen a Disney movie before she met the twins; now she's obsessed and _The Little Mermaid_ is her favorite," Caroline said. "Hayley's favorite is _Mulan_ , so she's a little annoyed that Hope didn't pick a more independent princess to be her favorite, but all three girls are still in that stage of their development that they identify with the princess who had the same hair color that they do."

"I guess I just never thought that Klaus Mikaelson's daughter would watch Disney movies like every other kid her age," Bonnie said.

"She's remarkably normal, all things considered," Caroline said.

"Okay," Bonnie yawned. "Good night, Care."

"Goodnight, Bonnie."

{ }

The next morning, Caroline woke up early, leaving Bonnie asleep in her room, and went downstairs to try to see everyone before they had to leave. She figured that she should probably let Elijah and Kol know that she was leaving Bonnie with them, rather than letting them discover the guest in their house on their own.

When Caroline got to the dining room, however, most of the family wasn't there yet. Only Klaus, Freya, and Elijah were in the room, speaking in hushed voices.

"Good morning," Caroline greeted.

"Good morning, love, did you enjoy catching up with your friend?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Caroline said. "I think she's going to stay here while we're gone, since Marcel doesn't know her, and it might be nice to have another witch help Elijah and Kol mind the store."

"That makes sense," Klaus agreed.

"She is the one who…" Elijah started to ask.

"Yes," Caroline confirmed.

They sat in silence for a while, the vampires drinking their blood bags, which the Mikaelsons poured into fancy glasses before drinking, until one by one, the others joined them.

Having everyone in the same room was awkward. Yesterday, they had a singular focus, which had helped to alleviate the tension in the room, but in the morning, it was hard to ignore. Hayley and Elijah were obviously not speaking, Bonnie was clearly uncomfortable surrounded by the Mikaelsons, and Hope's lack of awareness of the awkwardness only served to make everyone else more aware.

Once people started leaving a few at a time to get ready for the day, the mood in the room started to lift. When Hayley, who had been the first to leave, returned wearing a dark green flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a dark green tank top, dark blue jeans, and dark green combat boots, she scooped up Hope from her chair.

"I'm going to get her dressed and then I'm going to take her to Mary's," she announced, then took Hope upstairs.

"Who's Mary?" Caroline asked Klaus.

"She's Hayley's late husband's grandmother," Klaus explained. "So she's sort of like a grandmother to Hayley."

"And you trust her with Hope?" Caroline asked.

"Hayley does," Klaus started.

"And you trust Hayley, so if Hayley trusts her, you trust her," Caroline guessed.

"Actually, no," Klaus corrected with a smirk. "You're giving Hayley's opinion far too much weight, love. I was going to say that in this particular situation, Hayley doesn't care what I think. She trusts Mary, and it doesn't really matter to her whether I do or not."

"Oh," Caroline said. "Okay, then."

"You are the first person on a very short list of people I trust, love," Klaus told her. "Remember that."

Hayley brought Hope back into the dining room. Hope was dressed similarly to Hayley, except her boots were black.

"I'm going to go drop her off at Mary's, I don't want her in the city while this is happening," Hayley declared.

"She would be perfectly safe here with me and Kol," Elijah assured her.

"Well, I don't want her in the city, and 'here' is in the city, so she's going to Mary's," Hayley retorted.

Elijah raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"You're lucky the twins aren't here, so you don't have to find someplace to hide them away, too," Hayley told Caroline.

Caroline was taken aback by Hayley's insensitivity.

"I don't exactly consider myself fortunate that my children are in a different state right now, but I suppose I am glad they're out of harm's way," Caroline replied. "This may be one of the few times when it's actually better for them to have their parents not live together."

Hayley opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then changed her mind and led Hope out of the room.

Once Hayley and Hope left, Caroline slipped upstairs to get dressed, quickly changing into a black dress with a pink floral print, black knee-high boots, and a black denim jacket.

It was only a few minutes later that they all assembled in the courtyard to leave for Marcel's apartment for the treaty negotiations. Klaus, Caroline, and Freya were all dressed in black, though Klaus's henley and jeans gave off a very different attitude than Caroline's pink floral print dress and Freya's gauzy blouse and cardigan. Rebekah looked dress to seduce in tight-fitting black trousers and a shiny, bright red top with a low-cut neckline.

Because Freya didn't have vampire speed, they all piled into Klaus's car and drove to Marcel's home. The journey only took them a few minutes, and when they arrived, they entered the building and made a beeline for the elevator. Klaus hit the button for the top floor, and when the doors opened, they all piled in, immediately tapping the close door button behind them, not wanting to interact with anyone else on the way up. Caroline grabbed the hands of the two people closest to her, who happened to be Klaus and Freya. Klaus gently squeezed her hand in reassurance.

And then the elevator doors opened.

* * *

Yay! Bonnie's here!  
Thank you so much for reading!  
As always, I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!  
love,  
charlotte


	12. Chapter XII: Take Only What You Need

Hi!

Please prepare yourselves for the world's longest author's note.

Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter! As always, I loved reading your thoughts. I was glad that most of you liked that Bonnie has finally made her grand re-entrance into this story. I think it's good for Caroline to have a friend around who isn't a Mikaelson. I love that so many of you flipped out when Marcel said "however long it takes" because so did I when I was writing it! That wasn't how Marcel's threat was originally supposed to end, but I guess since that line is so iconic for us, I just typed it automatically, without even really thinking about it, then when I saw it on screen I flipped out, but it was too perfect not to keep, so that's what I did. For the record, Marcel was only threating to keep them there until an agreement was reached. He wasn't spying on Caroline at graduation or since, his choice of words was just a coincidence on his part, but Caroline and Klaus don't know that. I love that more than one of you said that you missed the twins already, but don't worry, they'll be back soon. I'm glad that most of you were pleased that Caroline was the human representative and that she and Rebekah were on the council together. I want to make sure that the female characters are well-rounded and making substantive contributions on their own, as well as supporting one another.

I have a couple of notes about reviews themselves, actually. The first is, please never apologize for leaving long reviews! I love long reviews! I love and am so grateful for any and all reviews, but I am especially amazed when I get to read the extremely detailed commentary on my story that my lovely, thoughtful, intuitive, genius readers come up with, and I get to see that you are paying really close attention to what I write, which is so exciting and such a gift for me as a writer. For example, one review from last chapter commented on the colors of clothing that Caroline wears, which has little to do with the plot of the story, but I was thrilled to see someone acknowledge those details because they can be a way of showing a character's personality, mindset, and current situation, and I put a lot of time into choosing them. In response to that particular comment, as Caroline becomes more and more entrenched in New Orleans, she'll start to wear darker colors, as well as jeans more than dresses, though I don't think she'll ever have a signature color the same way that Hayley has green, Rebekah has red, and Lizzie has pink. And I don't think that's an insignificant detail. I specifically chose those colors both to represent their species (Red for vampires, to symbolize blood, green for werewolves to symbolize the woods in which they live and their connection to nature), as well as their personalities-and because red and green are opposite each other on the color wheel, they show that Rebekah and Hayley are usually at odds. Lizzie's is a little different because it isn't about her being a witch, it's about her being in a feedback loop where she's being praised and rewarded for being the sweet, girly, little princess Barbie doll-something that's already an existing part of her personality, as we see before the twins even meet the Mikaelsons, but they encourage it (remember when Rebekah went shopping for clothes for the girls and almost all of Lizzie's were pink?), so she continues to wear pink because that earns her more attention and affection. Plus, those three characters, as you've seen and/or will see, have strong personalities, and are not flexible or adaptable, whereas Caroline, Josie, Hope, Freya, and Bonnie, who you'll see wearing more than just one signature color, are more amenable to compromise, which is important for this chapter.

Sorry, that was really long, and I usually try not to write about what people are wearing unless it's for a symbolic purpose like I mentioned, or to show that people are matching/coordinating, because that shows unity between those characters.

The other thing is, please feel free to send me questions, comments, and suggestions at any time; you aren't interfering at all with me writing the next chapter. Plus, I love hearing them, and they can help me go back and clarify things you didn't fully understand or wanted explained in more detail when I edit upcoming chapters right before I post them.

Speaking of my writing/posting schedule, updates are going to slow down a little for the next couple of chapters. I have two other projects that you'll get to see next month that I'm really excited about, but working on them does mean that I have less time for this story. And, this might sound a little silly, but I really love Valentine's Day (it's my favorite holiday) so I've decided that I want to make sure to update that day as my little Valentine to all of my readers to show you all how much I love and appreciate your support for my writing.

This chapter contains a conflict that I'm really nervous about publishing, so I tried to very explicitly and plainly explain why each character did what they did, why each character reacted the way they did, and why they each feel they are right and the other is wrong. If you have any other questions or want further explanation, please leave a review so that I can address those concerns and/or clarify the writing. On the flip side, though, this is the last chapter in which Marcel is an opponent/adversary. I said from the start that I liked him and didn't want him to be the villain in this story. You still aren't going to see why he missed the party (will you ever? That's for me to know and you to dot dot dot).

Also, I know I warned last chapter that this chapter is the first of two that contain more angst and conflict than we're used to with this story, but this chapter also has some comedic moments and dialogue that I didn't intentionally add (a lot of the characters just decided to be funny this chapter, what could I do?), but I hope they help to balance the inevitable drama at the end of the chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

Caroline stayed behind Klaus as they walked out of the elevator. Klaus was leading the pack, with Rebekah next to him and Caroline clinging close behind him like a shadow, Freya and Hayley bringing up the rear. Klaus reached behind him to quickly squeeze Caroline's hand.

"Everything is going to be fine," he told her reassuringly.

They all made their way down the short hallway between the elevator and Marcel's front door. Just as Klaus grasped the door handle, the door swung open from the inside.

"The gang's all here," Marcel said, stepping into the doorway.

"Yes, we're here," Klaus said.

Marcel stood back and waved them all inside. Klaus, Caroline, Rebekah, Freya, and Hayley all filed into the entryway. In the living room, there was a large mahogany table with eight brown leather chairs around it. Marcel had already claimed the head of the table, so Klaus sat at the other end. Vincent sat in the seat on Marcel's right, and across from him on Marcel's left was a vampire that Caroline had never met, but she assumed was Josh, the vampire Marcel had chosen to represent the vampire population on his behalf.

Rebekah and Freya sat next to their counterparts from Marcel's delegation, and Caroline and Hayley sat next to them.

Once everyone was seated, Marcel cleared his throat and commanded everyone's attention.

"All right, everyone, here are the rules: the vote on the final rules must be unanimous, but until then, anyone can propose anything to anyone. Klaus and I will oversee this entire process, and each of you are responsible for representing one of the species living in the city," Marcel announced. "Does anyone have any other rules they want to add?"

No one said anything.

The room quickly fell into discord after Marcel finished laying out the rules. Rebekah sidled up to Marcel, Freya started talking animatedly with Vincent, Hayley began frantically scribbling on a piece of paper, and in the madness, Caroline looked to Klaus for some indication of what she should do.

"If he does anything that you don't like, or that makes you uncomfortable, we'll walk away," Klaus promised.

"We'll walk away," Caroline deadpanned skeptically, Klaus's comment causing a sudden flash of strong irritation to shoot through her.

"Of course," Klaus said. "This isn't worth you getting upset over."

"You can't just walk away from everything you don't want to deal with," Caroline told him.

"Why are you so upset by this? I'm just trying to look out for you," Klaus asked.

"This isn't the time or place to talk about it," Caroline insisted, effectively ending the conversation.

Klaus stood up, placed his hand on Caroline's shoulder, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking over to talk to Rebekah and Marcel.

Right after Klaus left, someone else sat down in the empty seat on Caroline's other side.

"Hi," Josh said. "I'm Josh, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Caroline," Caroline replied.

"I've never seen anyone… handle Klaus like that," Josh said.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

"You just decided that you didn't want to talk to him, so you aren't talking to him," Josh said. "I've never seen him so accommodating or affectionate, he must really care about you."

This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that someone had told her how different Klaus was around her and how it was obvious how he felt about her. Caroline, however, wasn't so sure.

"Well, thanks, but like I told Klaus, I'd like to stay focused on the matter at hand," Caroline said.

"Okay," Josh agreed.

Caroline had a lengthy discussion with Josh about the feeding habits of vampires in New Orleans. Caroline used the conversation as a way to gather research so that she would know what would be reasonable to ask for.

After Rebekah finished speaking to Marcel, Hayley took her place, and Rebekah sat down next to Caroline in the seat Klaus had vacated.

"Why is Nik wearing his 'Caroline rejected me' face?" Rebekah asked.

"His what?" Caroline asked, looking over to where Klaus was standing, alone, silently observing everyone in the room.

"Nik has a sad facial expression that only appears when you've turned him down. Trust me, I've seen it often enough," Rebekah explained.

"I didn't reject him, he just said something that annoyed me," Caroline replied.

"What did he say? I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you. He didn't even mean to offend you when he tried to kill you," Rebekah said.

Josh looked completely bewildered.

"Your life is insane," Josh commented.

"Yes, it is," Caroline agreed.

"What did he say that annoyed you, Caroline?" Rebekah asked.

"He said that if anyone said or did anything that I don't like or that makes me uncomfortable, we would walk away from this whole thing," Caroline admitted.

"How exactly was that upsetting?" Josh asked, still confused but seemingly willing to participate in the discussion.

"The entire purpose of this meeting is to reach a compromise; something that's better for both parties than what we have now," Caroline explained. "If people don't participate in these negotiations with a willingness to compromise, they will certainly fail. And I already have two children who I need to teach how to compromise, I don't need a third. It's annoying that I feel like all I ever do is compromise, like with the girls' custody, and Klaus can just happily and easily walk away from anything that doesn't go exactly as he wanted it to."

Rebekah laughed at Caroline calling Klaus a child.

"First of all, Nik is a thousand-year-old tyrant. He won't change unless he really wants to and is willing to put in the effort to do so. Second of all, walking away from you was not easy for him, even though he wanted to do what you asked, no matter how much it hurt him. You didn't have to see him after we left Mystic Falls. I did, and he was equal parts thrilled, smug, and devastated. He may be annoying, but he's just trying to show you, once again, that his first priority is making you happy," Rebekah told her.

"If you say so, Rebekah," Caroline said.

"How did I get involved in this?" Josh asked.

"You sat down next to me. My craziness is contagious," Caroline said.

Klaus walked over to the group.

"How is everything going over here?" Klaus asked.

"The vampires of New Orleans could really benefit from the Stefan Salvatore vampire training course and vegetarian diet," Caroline explained.

"Who's Stefan Salvatore?" Josh asked.

"My ex-fiancé, he died a few weeks ago," Caroline told him.

Josh looked from Caroline, to Klaus, and then back to Caroline.

"Klaus didn't kill him," Caroline insisted quickly.

Rebekah laughed.

"He totally would!" she exclaimed.

"I never even threatened to kill Stefan," Klaus protested. "I told him there would be hell to pay if he ever hurt Caroline, but technically, I never made any specific threats against him."

"How nice of you," Caroline mocked.

"Compared to how rude he was to me, I was very nice," Klaus retorted.

"Stefan sacrificed himself to save his brother and his ex-girlfriend on the day we were supposed to get married in an attempt to save them from another one of his ex-girlfriend's plan to destroy our hometown," Caroline told Josh.

"That would explain the appeal of the virtually indestructible Original Hybrid who hates pretty much everyone except you," Hayley said, walking up behind them. She'd clearly intended to be funny, but her words and her tone were just a little too biting to be humorous.

"I like to think I have more attractive qualities than just hating almost everyone in the world," Klaus said.

"You really don't," Rebekah told him.

"How have we gotten so off-track from what we're supposed to be doing here?" Caroline asked. "I know that I'm not exactly an important contributor here, but I feel like I've done nothing all day but gossip."

"You're representing the humans, love, your job is to verify that none of our rules, once we finalize them, harm the human population of New Orleans. You can't do your job until we've done ours," Klaus reassured her.

Freya came to join them as Vincent consulted with Marcel.

"There are some specifics, like curfews and off-limits areas, but the overall agreement is as long as we don't use magic against them, they won't use magic against us," she told Klaus.

"We can live with that," he answered.

"Don't do magic in front of humans, it makes them uncomfortable," Caroline added, trying to contribute.

"Maybe in Mystic Falls that would be true, love, but in New Orleans, voodoo and spirits are part of the culture the tourists are looking for," Klaus explained.

"Well, I tried," Caroline conceded.

"It was a valiant effort," Klaus told her.

"I don't think I'll be getting a participation trophy just for being here," Caroline retorted.

"Marcel isn't willing to budge on giving the werewolves any more freedom," Hayley complained, directing Klaus's attention away from Caroline. "He let me have pretty much anything else I asked for, but most of it had to do with pack territory and rituals that I don't think he really cares about since the wolves have to stay in the bayou."

"Hayley, you learned very early in your stay in New Orleans that the city does not welcome werewolves. The wolves have the bayou, which they don't have to share with vampires, witches, or humans, and they're happy there. Just leave it alone," Klaus ordered.

"It isn't fair," Hayley muttered.

"Life isn't fair," Klaus said. "Did you have to give Marcel any concessions in exchange for what you asked for?"

"Not much," Hayley beamed, clearly proud of herself. "You just can't make any more hybrids using werewolves from New Orleans and the surrounding areas, even if they want to become hybrids. The only exception is if they won't survive unless they transition. I think Marcel isn't a fan of you having your own sired army."

"But I wouldn't do that anyway," Klaus said slowly, in a way that suggested to Caroline that they'd had this conversation before. "I don't need any more hybrids, and I don't want to make any more unless anything happens to the ones I already have. I don't want to use up what remains of the doppelganger's blood unless it's absolutely necessary, and I don't want to use Hope's at all," he explained.

"I know that," Hayley said, then leaning in close to Klaus, she whispered in his ear, "But Marcel doesn't know that."

"All three of you did well with these negotiations, I appreciate it," Klaus said, gently nudging Hayley away from him.

"Now I'm really worried about being the one who messes this up," Caroline whined.

"No pressure," Rebekah chimed in.

"Be nice, Rebekah," Klaus scolded his younger sister. "I'm sure that you will be spectacular, love," Klaus assured Caroline.

{ }

After several hours of the eight people in the room talking to each other, in various numbers and combinations, Marcel finally called the room to order and asked everyone to sit back down at the table.

As they had before, Klaus and Marcel sat at opposite ends of the table, with Vincent and Josh next to Marcel, Freya and Rebekah next to Vincent and Josh, and Hayley and Caroline next to Freya and Rebekah.

"We've all spent hours now making suggestions and getting feedback on your ideas, now let's start putting this treaty together," Marcel announced. "There are a few general propositions I'd like to make, then the representatives will propose their rules."

"The biggest change that we all agreed on is that having one king of New Orleans doesn't work. We've seen with the Mikaelsons that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So I propose a triumvirate: myself, Klaus, and someone else who we both agree on, someone we both trust to help us govern, someone who isn't here, so we know they didn't use these negotiations as a way to grab power. I assume you'll nominate Elijah?" Marcel asked Klaus.

Klaus nodded in response.

"Do you find that acceptable?" he asked.

"Naturally, I'm not too fond of him, but I know that he's smart and strategic, he can generally restrain some of your more violent impulses, and I know that I'm safer with him on my side than with him as my enemy," Marcel explained.

"In addition," Marcel continued. "We should each keep these roles and meet weekly. In an advisory council, of sorts, Rebekah and Josh will represent the vampire population of New Orleans, Freya and Vincent will represent the witches, Hayley will represent the werewolves, and Caroline will represent the humans. It will be each of your jobs to make sure that the triumvirate is keeping the promises we made to each of the species living in the city, and to advise us on how to best fulfill their needs."

After Marcel finished his proposals, everyone voted on them. The eight people at the table unanimously approved the new governing system of the triumvirate; Klaus, Marcel, and Elijah as the three members; the council with themselves as representatives; and weekly meetings of the council.

The vampire representatives were chosen to present their proposed rules first, though Rebekah and Josh spent more time debating the wording of the rules they had come up with than actually explaining the terms they wanted in the treaty.

Writing and approving the treaty was a long and tedious process. Each representative proposed each of the rules they wanted added to the treaty, then everyone else voted on each rule. According to Marcel's rules, all votes had to be unanimously in favor of a rule for it to be approved.

As much as Caroline adored Rebekah, she was having trouble remaining focused or interested in her squabbling with Josh and Marcel over proper vampire burial practices.

"Are you all right, love?" Klaus asked after the second time Caroline sighed.

"In the event of my death, all I ask is that you make sure my body is not left on the side of the road," Caroline told him.

"You're never going to die, so there's no need for you to worry about that," Klaus dismissed.

Caroline shot him a surprised look, which he answered with a shrug.

"If I had either the capability or the interest in allowing you to die, I would have done so already. As it happens, I find the idea of your death tremendously unappealing, therefore, I will do everything in my considerable power to prevent it," Klaus proclaimed.

"Okay," Caroline said. "Well, thank you, then."

While they were talking, Rebekah and Josh had finally come to an agreement, so after a quick vote in which everyone voted yes, since they also didn't care and just wanted to move on, Freya and Vincent took over to negotiate the witches' requested rules.

The new rules for the witches took almost as long to finalize as the rules for the vampires did, but eventually they came to a consensus, finally allowing an exhausted Freya to sit back down.

Unlike Rebekah, who'd seemed perfectly content to argue with Josh all day long if that was what was necessary to get the terms she wanted, Freya was less eager to debate. She would gladly fight for her right to do magic, and would even willingly spend half an hour arguing for an 11 o'clock magical curfew rather than a 10 o'clock curfew, but she didn't consider it fun the way Rebekah, Klaus and even Hayley did. Caroline could see a look of relief plain on the witch's face from across the table once everyone approved a list of extenuating circumstances that would permit magic after the curfew.

In contrast, Hayley saw her turn to add rules to the treaty as her opportunity to stand up for her subjects and demand rights for them. As Hayley had reported to Klaus earlier, Marcel didn't really seem to care what the werewolves did on their own territory, and neither did anyone else. The lack of interest from the rest of the group didn't stop Hayley from zealously campaigning for the wolves' rights to recognize their own pack leaders and other rules that really had no impact on the daily lives of anyone living in New Orleans, of any species.

All of Hayley's rules were quickly approved, since no one begrudged the wolves the right to do as they pleased on their own territory, none of which would affect them.

The wheels fell off the wagon when Hayley asked for the werewolves to be able to have complete access to all of New Orleans whenever they wanted. She argued that vampires, witches, and humans were free to go into the bayou whenever they wanted to, so the reverse would be fair as well.

"We can't have werewolves wandering the streets, getting into fights with vampires," Klaus insisted. "When the wolves prove themselves trustworthy, then we'll consider giving them some access to the city. Until then, they'll stay where they are."

"And how are they supposed to prove themselves if you won't let them?" Hayley asked.

"I'm sure you'll think of something if it's important to you," Klaus said.

"She has a point," Caroline interjected, trying to be supportive of Hayley to prove to the other mother that she wasn't a threat to Hope or any other member of her pack. "It seems only fair to let the werewolves have just as much freedom as every other species. Maybe there's a compromise we can agree on? Something like a trial period, where the wolves can come to the city on the weekends for a while, and if everything goes all right, then they can come and go as they please."

Hayley seemed pleasantly surprised that Caroline was trying to help her.

"We can work with that if that's what it takes for the wolves to get the freedom we deserve," Hayley said. "Thanks for the suggestion, Caroline."

"Absolutely not," Klaus said. "Werewolves can be violent, aggressive creatures with short tempers and an innate hatred for vampires. A bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire. You know that."

"Technically, I've never been bitten by a werewolf. I was bitten by hybrids, twice, but I was only tortured by werewolves once… and hybrids once, and a super vampire once, and my dad once… All I'm saying is that werewolves are not the only species with violent tendencies."

"You were tortured by the hybrids? Why didn't you tell me? I'll tear their hearts out!" Klaus threatened.

"You killed them already, Klaus, remember?" Caroline pointed out with a subtle nod in Hayley's direction.

"Would anyone other than the Klaus and Caroline comedy act like to offer an opinion?" Marcel interrupted.

Everyone else looked around the table uncertainly.

"Okay, let's put it to a vote," he ordered.

When they voted on werewolves having complete access to the entire city, only Hayley voted in favor. When they voted on Caroline's compromise of a trial period, Caroline, Josh, and Hayley voted in favor, while Klaus, Rebekah, Freya, Marcel, and Vincent voted against it.

Hayley slumped in her chair, visibly angry and disappointed, as Marcel directed Caroline to take over the proceedings.

Both nervous and sensing everyone's desire to finish up and leave, Caroline rushed through her proposals, which were primarily small restrictions or alterations to earlier rules.

Caroline took her responsibility as the humans' representative very seriously, so she asked for the most stringent restrictions on feeding, compulsion, and magic that she thought the other representatives would agree to. She wanted to think that they agreed because they knew that treating humans decently was the right thing to do, but she wouldn't be surprised if they only agreed because they feared Klaus's retaliation if they went against her.

Once Caroline was satisfied that the humans were being sufficiently protected, Marcel declared the treaty closed and called for a final vote to approve the entire agreement.

After nine hours of collaboration and debate, they finally had a verified peace treaty.

{ }

"Before we finish up here, there's one more thing I want," Marcel said. "Caroline, I want to know how a vampire who was turned less than ten years ago and two witches who couldn't be more than five years old managed to undo the magic that my witches put in place to imprison Klaus, and then presumably revived all of the other Mikaelsons as well."

"My children aren't here; they aren't a part of this," Caroline answered.

"I'm not going to hurt them," Marcel insisted, trying to be reassuring.

"I don't believe you," Caroline said. "And I don't trust you."

"So you aren't going to tell me how they were that powerful?" Marcel shook his head. "None of you would consider giving me that information in exchange for one more of the terms that you wanted for this agreement? Not for one less restriction on your magic?" he glanced at Freya. "Or for more freedom for the wolves to have full access to anywhere in the city they might want to go?" he challenged Hayley.

"They're siphoners," Hayley blurted out. "Their magic works by absorbing the magic from other magical objects or spells, or even people, like vampires or witches. They would have virtually unlimited power as long as they have something to channel," she rushed to explain.

"Hayley!" Caroline exclaimed.

Klaus gripped Caroline's hand and glared at Hayley, making clear whose side he was on.

"Sorry, Caroline, but you know I have to protect my pack," Hayley said. "You heard Marcel offer the werewolves freedom, I had to take him up on it, whatever it was he was asking for in exchange."

"You endangered my children's lives so that your pack can walk down Bourbon Street whenever they want!" Caroline accused.

"Your children aren't even in the state, and they are siphoners whether Marcel knows it or not. There's no way he wouldn't have found out eventually anyway," Hayley defended herself. "The twins aren't part of my pack, Caroline; it isn't my responsibility to protect them, it's yours. If they were really in any danger-which I don't think they are-you, and Klaus, and Rebekah can protect them," Hayley shot back.

Rebekah leaned over and placed her hand on Caroline's shoulder, nodding to show her support when Caroline looked over at her.

"Are there any other witches like them?" Marcel asked, trying to interrupt the chaos.

Hayley looked at Caroline searchingly. Hayley didn't know the answer to Marcel's question, and she knew that Caroline did know. But Caroline wasn't going to give Hayley any information that could be used to threaten her daughters.

"I don't know, I don't think so," Hayley said.

"Are we finished here?" Klaus asked abruptly. "Aside from your curiosity about two little girls who managed to outmaneuver you, have we concluded our business here?"

"Why are you so upset about this?" Marcel asked indignantly. "Hope is a powerful witch, too, and I've never tried to hurt her or take advantage of her powers. You should know better than anyone that I don't mean them any harm. I'm just curious. If I know where the weak link in my defenses is, I can fix it."

"And you should know better than anyone that if you touch a hair on those girls' heads, or if they so much as complain about you giving them a dirty look, I will end you," Klaus promised.

"What do you have on him?" Marcel asked Caroline.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I care about them?" Klaus asked. "Is it really so farfetched that I might care about someone outside of my family enough to want to protect them? They're three years old, and they've done nothing wrong. Leave it alone."

Marcel looked to Hayley, as if for confirmation.

"I appreciate that you've never done anything to hurt Hope in any way, and you've even tried to help her when other people were trying to hurt her," Hayley said. "I don't think that you want to hurt Lizzie and Josie. They're nice kids; I don't want to see them get hurt either. But everyone here who isn't a werewolf, who isn't responsible for the welfare of a wolf pack, doesn't seem to understand that basic, relatively easily accessible information about two girls, who at least half of the Original family would risk their lives to protect, is not worth sacrificing my pack's freedom. That isn't an opportunity that I can pass up."

Everyone in the room glanced over at Klaus, except Marcel and Rebekah, who continued to look (or in Rebekah's case, glare) at Hayley.

"Thank you for your help, Hayley," Marcel said, breaking the tense silence.

"And how exactly are you going to show the werewolves your appreciation for my help?" Hayley demanded.

Marcel glanced at Klaus, who glared back.

"If they promise not to harm anyone, and you promise to be responsible for them, I don't see why the wolves shouldn't be allowed to visit the city whenever they'd like," Marcel said after a moment of consideration.

Hayley grinned.

"See, I got everything we wanted!" she cheered.

"No, Hayley, you got everything you wanted," Klaus corrected. "And you didn't care who you had to betray to get it."

"Can we go now, please? I want to go," Caroline asked Klaus in a soft voice.

"Of course, love, let's go," Klaus stood, then helped Caroline to her feet and led her out of the apartment with his hand on the small of her back.

At the doorway, Klaus and Caroline turned around and faced the people remaining at the table. Marcel and Vincent looked surprised, Josh looked slightly confused, Hayley looked offended, Rebekah looked defiant, and Freya looked concerned.

"Finish this," Klaus directed Rebekah.

"Gladly," Rebekah responded with a devious smile.

Caroline hadn't seen her approach, but when Klaus led her out the door, Freya was on her other side, offering a sympathetic smile.

"You know that I would never let anything happen to the twins," Klaus promised Caroline.

Caroline didn't respond.

She didn't say anything the whole way home.

* * *

So... that happened. I've had this particular incident planned for a while, and I'm nervous to see how you all will react to it. Is what Hayley did unforgivable, or do you think Caroline will get over it? Can you at least see where each of them are coming from?  
I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review, please and thank you! I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole(:  
Thank you so much for reading!  
love,  
charlotte


	13. Chapter XIII: The Worst of Crimes

Hello, wonderful readers!

Since I received my first needlessly very mean review on the last chapter, I just wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who are always polite and civil in your reviews, even when you disagree with me or don't like something in the story. (Wow, this makes me sound like one of those confident, thick-skinned people who can handle strangers calling them mean names and swearing at them. That is not at all accurate. I'm a Cancer, and a very sensitive and emotional little person in addition to that. I just don't want to give that unkind reviewer any more of my time and attention.)

Last chapter this story surpassed one hundred reviews, one hundred favorites, two hundred followers, and twenty thousand views, so I would like to offer another sincere thank you to any of you who helped this story reach these milestones! I would have never expected my story to receive as much attention as it has, so I'm very excited, pleased, and grateful to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story!

A guest review consisted only of one direct question and when I saw it, I wished I could reply, but I can't and I felt awful! You're right, Marcel can't unilaterally approve anything. He probably would have called another vote or prompted Klaus to make a counterproposal to what he offered Hayley and then called another vote on that, but they left before he could. More than one of you expressed confusion on that point, so I apologize for not being more clear. I wanted the end of the chapter to focus on the interpersonal conflict between Caroline and Hayley, and leave the political ramifications for a big reveal in the following chapter. You'll see what ended up happening early in this chapter. It's sort of vengeful, but also sort of bittersweet.

I think it's worth noting that, while a lot of you said that Hayley's actions last chapter were unforgivable, and many of you said that they made you hate her, none of you said that they were out of character. I think that one of the reasons I was so uncertain about that situation was because in similar situations on the show, in which Hayley makes decisions to try to protect Hope or the wolves and ends up putting others' safety at risk (mostly the Mikaelsons, who, to be fair, can usually take care of themselves), the narrative bends over backwards to justify her decisions—look how brave and loyal she is! look what a great queen she is! look what a perfect mother she is!—leaving everyone watching at home to wonder how putting the people who have protected you for years in danger makes you loyal or putting your daughter's family in danger makes you a good mother. So I'm very relieved that I didn't receive any angry reviews saying that this scenario would never happen, Hayley would never do anything that terrible, they weren't going to read my story anymore because of this chapter. Perhaps it's selfish, but I'm relieved that you seem angry at Hayley for what she did, but not angry with me for writing it. When I first had the idea for that scene, I was looking for a way to bring the animosity between Caroline and Hayley to a point of no return, where Caroline wouldn't just accept it and hope being nicer would make Hayley like her and trust her, and Hayley wouldn't get away with her insensitive, snarky comments and dictating Caroline's every move around Hope anymore, and no one else would be able to keep ignoring it or not noticing it. So for those of you who attributed Hayley's actions to her contentious relationship with Caroline (Hayley being jealous of Caroline was something a lot of you mentioned), I think that almost made it more satisfying, I guess you could say, for Hayley to push Caroline down and pull the wolves up with one move, but I also think that if Marcel had asked for Rebekah's Netflix password in exchange for the wolves' freedom, Hayley would have given him that, too. Also, for those of you plotting Hayley's death in your reviews, I can't kill off everyone who's mean to Caroline. I'm not Klaus.

I also thought it was interesting that while most of you weren't angry with Marcel for asking about the twins, you also clearly don't trust him, since you thought that the twins' lives were in danger, even though Marcel promised that he wouldn't hurt them. Maybe you don't trust me either, but I can promise you that Marcel won't hurt the twins, since I hate the idea of them being hurt at least as much as you do.

Almost everyone who reviewed said they didn't want Caroline to forgive Hayley, and she won't, but she also isn't going to be starting screaming matches in the courtyard with her. I think Caroline is too mature for that, plus she doesn't want Hope and the twins to feel uncomfortable because their moms are fighting, plus Caroline is a Libra, which means she's constantly seeking harmony, plus we saw for years on _The Vampire Diaries_ that Caroline is willing to put aside her own negative feelings towards someone for the sake of the group getting along (e.g. every time she had to spend time with Damon, who abused her, because they had the same friends). Plus the rest of the chapter wouldn't work without Caroline and Hayley having the conversation/argument that they have.

I've decided that these characters need a change in perspective, so I had Klaus and Caroline have heart-to-hearts with someone we haven't seen them have one with yet—Caroline talks to Freya (so I was so glad when someone requested more Freya scenes in their review) and Klaus talks to Kol (who I think deserves better than just being the comic relief we often see him as).

Now I'm just stalling, since I imagine that many of you won't like me very much when you finish this chapter…

Oh! I don't know how many of you noticed, but I made a cover for this story and added it a few days after I uploaded chapter twelve. I'm not a graphic designer or Photoshop expert by any means, but I think it looks okay.

Someone asked if Kai is still alive in this story… he for sure won't be in the story if that's what you're asking. I'm not going against canon for him, so he's still "permanently indisposed" to borrow Katherine's words from the finale.

A reviewer asked me who I think is the most beautiful TVD/TO character, and I'm going to agree with you and say Rebekah. My top three would be Rebekah, Katherine, Caroline; and my top five would be Rebekah, Katherine, Caroline, Bonnie, and a tie between Freya and Davina. Thank you for the question!

I wanted to give a special thanks to Artemis (MissBrunetteBarbie is her username) for including this story on her list of recommendations, which can be found in Chapter Four of her story _Make a Dream Last_. Thank you so much, I am so pleased and thrilled that you like this story enough to recommend it to your own readers! (I was serious when I said that I notice people who review more than once).

I just finished writing chapter sixteen, which is when the questions of what happens to Alaric and who comes back from the dead are answered, so you have that to look forward to coming soon.

Okay, I've got nothing else to add. Go ahead and read, friends.

* * *

Caroline managed to hold herself together until they arrived back at the Mikaelson mansion, and then she fell apart in the courtyard.

Klaus watched helplessly as Caroline fell to the ground and sobbed loudly, wrapping her arms around herself and refusing to let anyone near her, as Freya found out when she extended a hand to console her.

Klaus had seen Caroline emotional before; he'd seen her on the brink of death more times than he wanted to remember, but he'd never seen her so soul-crushingly devastated before.

Elijah, Kol, and Bonnie ran out from the dining room when they heard activity in the courtyard. They all stared wide-eyed at Caroline crying and at Klaus and Freya observing, unable to offer any comfort or assistance.

"What happened?" Elijah asked.

"You're missing Little Red and Mama Wolf," Kol said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. "Where's Bekah?" he asked, rapidly becoming more serious.

As his brothers swarmed Caroline, Klaus moved to the side and did the only thing he could think of that might help Caroline feel a little better.

"I was wondering when I'd hear from you," the man said when he answered Klaus's call.

"And why is that?" Klaus asked flatly.

"I assumed that the hybrid bodyguards that showed up here the day the girls got back weren't for me," Alaric chuckled.

Unbeknownst to Caroline, Klaus had sent two hybrids to Mystic Falls for each of the twins' protection. From Alaric's jovial response, Klaus concluded that the twins' father wasn't upset or annoyed by the fact that his daughters had immortal beings who had been ordered to protect the girls with their lives watching over them.

"Will you put the girls on the phone please, Alaric?" Klaus requested impatiently.

"It's late; I've already put them to bed," Alaric protested.

"Then wake them up," Klaus insisted.

"What is this about?" Alaric demanded.

"Someone may have possibly threatened the twins by revealing the nature of their magic earlier today, and it would be reassuring to Caroline to hear for herself that her children are safe and sound," Klaus explained.

"Are they?" Alaric worried.

"Between the two of them, they have four of my hybrids, who have been ordered to protect the girls with their lives, watching their every move and reporting back to me twice per day and every time they see something suspicious within a ten-mile radius. Lizzie and Josie are as safe as I can possibly make them," Klaus assured him.

"You're in luck, they weren't asleep," Alaric said. "Nice talking to you, Klaus, as always."

Then a little voice came over the speaker.

"Hello?" Lizzie asked.

Klaus hadn't been nearly as concerned for the twins' safety as Caroline, but he still felt a rush of relief when he heard Lizzie's voice over the phone. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he loved Caroline's children, couldn't imagine what his life would be like without them, couldn't imagine a world in which he couldn't tell, with absolute certainty, that it was Lizzie on the other end of the phone because her voice was ever so slightly higher-pitched than her sister's.

"Hello, little angel," Klaus greeted.

"Klaus!" Lizzie exclaimed excitedly.

"Hello, Lizzie," Klaus said.

Klaus saw Caroline look up at the sound of her daughter's name.

"Is your sister there, sweetheart? Your mother would like to talk to both of you,"

Klaus could almost see Caroline's frustrated expression on Lizzie's face as he heard her struggle to put the phone on speakerphone. For a fraction of a second, he was annoyed that Alaric was leaving Lizzie to fend for herself when he could have easily helped her, but then he realized that just as he gave Hayley and Hope privacy during their time together, Alaric had probably wanted to show Caroline the same courtesy.

"Klaus?" Josie's little voice asked for him.

"I'm here, honey," Klaus answered.

"I'm going to let you two talk to your mom, okay? I'll talk to you soon," Klaus told them.

Klaus walked over to where Caroline was still sitting on the floor, still surrounded by Freya, Elijah, Kol, and Bonnie. He put his cell phone in Caroline's hand, which only cause her to look up at him with desolate, red-rimmed eyes. Klaus nodded encouragingly at the phone, and eventually Caroline lifted it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said.

The twins greeted her enthusiastically in return, which only caused Caroline to start crying even more.

"I've missed you so much!" Caroline cried.

Even though she was still crying, Caroline seemed brighter now that she knew the twins were safe and happy.

Klaus gestured for everyone else to give Caroline some space. Kol and Bonnie returned to the dining room, taking Freya with them, but Elijah remained next to Klaus.

"You knew exactly what to do to make her feel better," Elijah commented. "And you didn't waste any time doing it."

"Did you not see her crying on the floor? It would have been cruel not to intervene," Klaus said.

"It seems almost instinctive for you to want to do whatever will make Caroline happy," Elijah answered. "I don't think I've ever seen you take such in active role in guaranteeing someone else's happiness. You must really love this girl."

"My feelings for Caroline are not something that I can discuss now," Klaus stated curtly.

"Why not? Are you ashamed to admit that you actually care about someone who isn't family?" Elijah pressed.

"No," Klaus said. "Because as you noted, there is very little I would not do to secure Caroline's safety and happiness. That makes her a target, a weakness that can be used against me. She completely lost control this evening because she is scared out of her wits for her children's safety. I won't have her worried about her own safety as well."

"Isn't that yet more proof of your love for her? Her safety means more to you than your happiness," Elijah remarked.

Klaus was about to answer when he heard Caroline say good night to the girls and hang up the phone. Caroline stood up, walked over to Klaus, and handed him his phone back.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Of course," Klaus replied.

Klaus thought that she might have stepped forward to hug him, but she remained at arm's length away from him, looking up at him with soft, still watery eyes.

Their eye contact was broken when Klaus's phone chimed in his hand with a text message from Rebekah.

"Rebekah is on her way back here," Klaus announced.

"Let's go wait for her inside," Elijah suggested.

Caroline, Klaus, and Elijah went into the dining room to wait with Freya, Kol, and Bonnie for Rebekah to come back.

"Are you feeling better?" Freya asked as soon as Caroline passed through the doorway.

Caroline just nodded.

Klaus sat down facing the doorway so that he would see when Rebekah came in, and pulled Caroline into the seat next to him.

A streak of pale gold, red, and black flashed through the courtyard as Rebekah looked for the rest of the family, assuming that they would be in a common room on the first floor and finding them rather quickly.

"Is everything taken care of?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Rebekah answered. "The treaty, as last approved, will stand. Since Marcel's offer to Hayley to give the wolves free reign over the city wasn't approved unanimously, it isn't part of the treaty."

"Did Hayley come back with you?" Elijah asked, his jaw clenching.

"No, she said she had to go get Hope," Rebekah answered. "But I'm pretty sure she actually just didn't want to spend any more time in the same room as me. The Wolf Queen is very angry with us for the disrespect we allegedly showed her people, and I think she's just using her little Wolf Princess as an excuse not to be anywhere near any of us."

Caroline slumped slightly in her seat.

"Her temper is not your fault," Klaus told her, assuming the reason for her sadness was that she felt guilty for not successfully helping Hayley win over the council.

"Today has been a really long day; I think I just want to go to bed now, if that's okay, if you don't need me for any post game analysis or anything for the people who stayed here," Caroline said.

"Of course, sweetheart, go get some rest," Klaus insisted.

Klaus watched as Caroline trudged out of the room, already planning how he would try to cheer her up tomorrow.

{ }

Caroline woke the next morning to a cacophony coming from downstairs.

"What were you thinking?" Klaus's characteristic thundering voice roared angrily.

Caroline rushed downstairs to see Hayley holding Hope's hand and staring down Klaus in the courtyard. Hayley was dressed in the same outfit as the previous day, but Hope was wearing a sky blue tee-shirt, jeans, and sneakers—a rare moment that her outfit didn't match Hayley's.

"Why is there yelling? It's too early for yelling," Caroline whined, rubbing her eyes on the oversized Mystic Falls High School football sweatshirt that had been a staple in her pajama drawer for so long that she couldn't actually remember if it had originally belonged to Matt or Tyler.

"I'm sorry we disturbed you, sweetheart," Klaus apologized quickly.

"Yes, it's a tragedy that Sleeping Beauty's rest was interrupted," Hayley drawled sarcastically.

"This has nothing to do with Caroline, Hayley," Klaus said. "Don't even talk to her. You did more than enough damage yesterday."

"No, you're right, it doesn't, because of everyone here, Caroline was the only one who was willing to see past some stupid prejudice and stand up for what's right," Hayley agreed.

"This isn't about your anger about the peace treaty either. This is about you keeping our daughter away from me because you were angry with me. You can't do that, Hayley. You can't use Hope as a weapon in your fights against me, or as the rope in a game of tug-of-war between us," Klaus scolded.

"I just thought that I would keep her somewhere that is more accepting of who she is, since this house is so staunchly anti-werewolf. I was only trying to keep her safe," Hayley said with painted-on innocence.

"Unless you forced Hope to commit murder last night to activate her curse, Hope is not yet a werewolf, and, like you, Hope enjoys full access to the city and the bayou. Go sell your story to someone who will buy it," Klaus said.

Klaus and Hayley's dispute had awoken several other occupants of the house. Elijah had come downstairs and was standing equidistant from Klaus and Hayley, already fully dressed in his trademark suit. Freya stood on the staircase, a few steps above where Caroline had sat down on the bottom stair. When Caroline looked up, she saw Kol surveying the courtyard from the landing.

Klaus took one look at all of the spectators before taking Hope from Hayley and dashing up the other set of stairs. Hayley chased after them, insisting that their argument wasn't over.

After they left, Elijah retreated into a room Caroline remembered from her search of the house as an office and shut the door behind him.

Caroline waved to Freya, gesturing for the witch to sit with her.

"What happened? You were already here when they woke me up," Freya asked.

"From what I gather, Hayley told Rebekah last night that she was going to pick up Hope from Mary's house and bring her home, except she never did, they both stayed there last night without telling anyone," Caroline explained.

"She was really so angry about us voting down her request for more freedom for the wolves that she let Klaus think she kidnapped their daughter?" Freya asked, bewildered.

"I don't think he thought she would really take off with Hope; I think he was more upset that she didn't tell him where they were. If she'd brought Hope home and then gone back to Mary's herself to get some time away from us, I think he wouldn't have a problem with her needing some space. He really doesn't like the idea of Hope being in the middle of their fights," Caroline said.

"This is going to be a long day, with Klaus and Hayley fighting and Hayley being mad at all of us," Freya lamented.

"Ironically, she isn't mad at me, because I proposed a compromise, which I did because I wanted to keep her from getting mad at me," Caroline contradicted.

"Why is that ironic?" Freya asked.

"Because Hayley's been mad at me since I met her," Caroline explained. "She's always seen me as a rival of sorts. Primarily over attention from men who were interested in me, who she wanted to be interested in her."

"Including my brother," Freya concluded.

"Yes, including Klaus," Caroline confirmed. "We weren't together; we still aren't together, so it isn't like she stole him from me, or he cheated on me."

"I think feelings are a little more complicated than that," Freya said. "Just please tell me that my niece is not the result of Hayley's devious attempt to prove to you that she could make anyone who wanted you, want her instead."

"Hope is so precious," Caroline started cautiously. "I think she's the best thing that's ever happened to Klaus. I refuse to think anything that ugly about her. And I know that Klaus was a willing participant in his encounter with Hayley; there's no way that a teenage werewolf could take advantage of a thousand-year-old hybrid."

Freya nodded.

"But I wasn't there, I can't tell you for certain that it isn't true either," Caroline confessed sadly. "Hayley has made clear that she isn't, and never was, interested in a romantic relationship with Klaus, and I can believe that. I haven't seen two people fight like that since my parents' divorce," Caroline added. "I don't think Hayley anticipated getting pregnant, and I don't know what her motivations or expectations were. I've had the same fear you have for five years now, and every time the thought crosses my mind I push it away, because whatever happened between Klaus and Hayley is none of my business, and because whatever happened between them, we shouldn't take that out on Hope."

"Good gracious, you're annoying," Rebekah said as she flounced down the stairs to join them. "It's like you aren't even a real person anymore. Remember when you hated me? Does being a mother make you incapable of experiencing real emotions, because if that's true, I'm glad I missed out on that opportunity."

"I'm just trying to get along with everyone, Rebekah," Caroline said. "I am a guest here, I'm on my best behavior."

"Oh please, you could kill Kol and Nik wouldn't even bat an eye. You could literally get away with murder," Rebekah insisted.

"Hey!" Kol interjected from the landing.

"Sorry, Kol!" Rebekah, Caroline, and Freya chimed in unison.

"I'm with Bekah," Kol said, joining them. "If you're mad, be mad. Bottling up your feelings doesn't make them go away."

"Being upset about the existence of a five-year-old girl doesn't make her go away either," Caroline pointed out. "Acceptance is the way to go in this situation."

"What exactly are you accepting?" Freya asked.

"That Klaus, Hayley, and Hope are their own little wolf royal family, and I have no place in it. We have the Wolf King, the Wolf Queen, and their Wolf Princess. There's no room for a stepmother or another queen. I would just be Anne Boleyn, waiting to get my head chopped off," Caroline said.

And with that, she turned and walked back up the stairs to her room.

{ }

Hayley barged into Caroline's room a little while later.

"I just wanted to apologize for this morning," Hayley said. "It wasn't anything personal against you, I just don't like fighting with Klaus in front of anyone, especially when we're fighting about Hope. Privacy can be hard to come by in this house, and well, Hope is our daughter, mine and Klaus's; not mine and Klaus's and yours and Elijah's and Rebekah's and Freya's and Kol's."

"I appreciate your apology, but it really isn't necessary," Caroline answered stiffly. "Your relationship with Klaus and how the two of you parent Hope together is really none of my business."

"He is a good father, though," Hayley reassured her. "When she was little, before we got separated, he would tell her all about his adventures as these bedtime stories. He called himself the Wolf King, and she was his beautiful little Wolf Princess. It was really sweet."

"That sounds sweet," Caroline agreed distantly. "I'm sure Klaus has a lot of fascinating stories to tell her."

"And I don't want you to think we were fighting because of you, or that you could have stopped it somehow," Hayley continued. "He's just really protective of Hope."

"I did get the feeling he would be," Caroline joked weakly.

"And I appreciate you sticking up for me yesterday," Hayley added.

"I was just trying to do the right thing," Caroline demurred with a tight half-smile.

"Still, thanks," Hayley said. "Well, I'll leave you to your plans for today. I left Hope with Klaus for some father-daughter bonding time, I think I'll go check on them."

"Hayley," Caroline called out. "What are you really here to apologize for?"

Hayley nodded once.

"I'm sorry I told Marcel about the twins' magic," Hayley said quietly. "I shouldn't have done that, no matter how minimal I thought the risk to their safety was, that wasn't my call to make. I can get so single-minded when it comes to protecting my pack that I forget about everything else, and I was wrong for putting your daughters in the line of fire because of my dedication to giving the werewolves the best lives that I can."

"I hate what you did, but I understand why you did it," Caroline said after a moment. "I don't know if I'm ready to forgive you for it just yet, but I know I don't want to be angry. I want to focus on making sure the twins are safe, and building my relationships with everyone here so that they feel comfortable and welcome here. I'm not saying we're going to be friends now, or even that we're getting back to where we were before, but the mental exhaustion that being angry with you would cause me is not worth the satisfaction of holding a grudge and knowing that you were wrong and I was right."

"You probably don't want to be around me right now, so I'll just go," Hayley said.

"How uncharacteristically perceptive of you to notice," Caroline said scathingly.

"I said I was sorry," Hayley tried to defend herself.

"And I said that I didn't forgive you," Caroline shot back. "Just because I don't want to be angry, or hold a grudge, doesn't mean that I can just move past this. You put my children's safety at risk, and it ended up being for nothing."

"Because you stormed out like a cranky toddler!" Hayley accused.

"No one would have agreed to let the wolves have free reign, even without the stunt you pulled," Caroline reminded Hayley. "Did you even want the wolves to have access to the city, or did you just want more power for yourself? You're already the Queen of the Werewolves, you're already the mother of the most powerful witch to ever live, and I'm pretty sure the only witch-werewolf combination in existence, and because of her you have the Original family taking care of you. What more do you want? I'm not trying to start a fight with you, I'm genuinely just trying to find out what your motivation was."

"I don't want to have to rely on my daughter for protection," Hayley answered. "Do you really think I don't know that the Mikaelsons only tolerate me because of Hope? I'm the queen of my pack because it's my birthright, but I'm only part of this family because of who my daughter's father is. I never wanted that. I didn't ask to get pregnant any more than you did."

"Wow, sorry, I just had the most unfortunate flashback to ninth-grade sex ed… "The only 100% effective method of birth control is abstinence!'" Caroline quoted in a sing-song voice. "You may not have known about the magical loophole that would allow you to get pregnant, but no one performed a spell on you that forced you to carry your history teacher's children without your consent. Our situations are not the same."

"But despite the circumstances, I love my daughter, and I know you love yours, too," Hayley continued. "I had to leave my pack behind when we had to leave New Orleans. I should have taken Hope into the bayou and hid, but I didn't, because I wanted Hope to have her family back someday. Those wolves, they're not my subjects, they're my family. And I'm strong, and tough, and brave—I've had to be—but it helps to have backup in the form of a family that loves you."

"Then why don't you live with them now?" Caroline asked. "If you feel so unwelcome in this house, why don't you build yourself a castle in the bayou and live with your family? You don't have to live with your children every day to love them and have a relationship with them."

"I don't trust the Mikaelsons not to turn her against me," Hayley replied. "If I were in the bayou, and she were here with them, and something happened, I wouldn't be able to get here in time. Then Hope would learn that when something goes wrong she can count on her father and her aunts and uncles, but not her mom. I have to be here with her, all the time."

"You still don't trust them, after six years of being involved with this family?" Caroline asked, incredulous. "From what I know about Klaus, the fact that he hasn't killed you is a huge show of good faith. And you made the choice to get involved with the Mikaelsons. You slept with Klaus, you gave birth to his child, you were in a relationship with Elijah, and you live here with all of them. Those were your decisions. For someone who prides herself on being strong, and tough, and brave, you have a disturbing inability to take responsibility for your actions."

"Is that what this is about?" Hayley taunted, her posture and attitude showing that she thought she'd finally gotten the upper hand on this situation. "Are you jealous that I slept with Klaus and had his baby and you didn't? Are you jealous that I get to be queen of something more important than that messed-up small town you came from? Are you jealous that no matter how much you think Klaus loves you, you're always going to have to swallow your pride and smile pretty while Klaus and I parent our daughter, the most powerful witch to ever live and the only witch who is also a wolf, together? Are you jealous that no matter how much you might have thought Klaus might have loved you back then, there was a time when he wanted me more than he loved you?"

Caroline closed her eyes against Hayley's harsh onslaught of accusations. She didn't want to be angry, or fight with her, but Hayley was making it difficult to have a reasonable, mature discussion.

Hayley blinked rapidly and shook her head repeatedly.

"I can't believe I just said that out loud, I am so sorry, Caroline," Hayley apologized. Caroline thought, uncharitably, that she was more scared of what Klaus would do to her if he found out than she was sincerely regretful. "We should have aired our grievances with each other ages ago, some of that stuff has been festering for almost six years. But I shouldn't have said that stuff. Klaus does love you, and he never really wanted me. The only reason he didn't kill me was because Elijah convinced him not to, and then he really did grow to love Hope and didn't want her to lose her mother. I've told you that I'm not interested in Klaus, or even Elijah anymore. I don't want to be with a vampire, let alone a Mikaelson. Klaus wants to be with you, and I know I had my doubts, but I can't imagine anyone who would be a better stepmother to Hope than you," Hayley rambled on.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore," Caroline said, forcing herself to use her most serene tone of voice. "I'd like to be alone, if you don't mind."

"I'm just going to go check on Hope now," Hayley announced, quickly leaving the room.

{ }

It had taken him most of the morning, but Klaus had finally managed to shake off Hayley, only after issuing some colorful threats of what he would do to her if she hurt Caroline again, under the guise of wanting to spend some time alone with Hope. Hayley had stormed off angrily to her room when he did so, and it wasn't long after she left that Klaus left Hope drawing in her room before going back downstairs to find out what the rest of his family knew about Hayley's disappearing act the previous day.

When he walked into the living room, Bonnie, who had clearly entered the room only moments before he had, was talking to Kol and Freya.

"Have either of you seen Caroline yet today? We had plans to go shopping this afternoon, but I can't find her," Bonnie told them.

"We saw her this morning after Nik and Hayley woke up everyone except you with their fighting," Kol said. "We had a heart-to-heart, Caroline experienced the five stages of grief and somehow ended up stuck in denial and acceptance at the same time; good times had by all, really."

"No one's seen her leave, so she must still be in the house, Bonnie," Freya supplied helpfully.

"She'd better still be here, I can only deal with one missing person per day, and we've already exceeded today's allotment," Klaus interjected.

"I'm pretty sure she isn't talking to you, so it isn't like you'd know if she was here or not," Kol said.

"Why is she not speaking to me?" Klaus asked.

"She thinks you're going to behead her," Kol answered, as if that made perfect sense. Klaus considered the source. To Kol, that probably did make perfect sense.

"What?" was all Klaus could say in response.

"She called herself Anne Boleyn," Kol explained. "As if those two are anything alike. But for most of the conversation, she was technically only talking to Freya, she just forgot I was still in the room and could hear everything she was saying."

"What did she say?" Klaus asked his sister.

"It isn't my place to tell you," Freya answered. "I'm not going to betray Caroline's trust like that. And if you are—" she glared at Kol, "I don't want to hear it. Come on, Bonnie, I'll help you look for Caroline. This house is excessively large and hard to navigate if you aren't used to it."

Freya and Bonnie left the room, and Klaus immediately rounded on Kol.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Kol relented.

"Caroline is of the opinion that you, Hayley, and Hope are the perfect werewolf royal family and that there is no place for her in said family," Kol admitted quickly. "Caroline also refused to entertain the notion that Hayley only… pursued you, shall we say, in order to rub Caroline's nose in it later and prove that she could win over the attention of anyone who previously had shown interest in or feelings for Caroline. She didn't want to believe that Hope came into being under such devious circumstances."

"And what did you say to all of that?" Klaus asked.

"I told her to stop hiding her real feelings behind her cheerful efforts to get along with everyone and her sunshine personality," Kol said. "Rebekah agreed with me. She's trying so hard to make everyone like her that it's like she's incapable of real feelings."

"How could she possibly think that she doesn't belong here?" Klaus asked incredulously.

"Beats me," Kol answered. "I think she's great. I think her kids are great. I would have thought Rebekah and Hayley would hate her, but they don't. As far as I know, she's come to the conclusion that she's unwelcome entirely on her own."

"I hate to be the lone voice of reason, as usual," Elijah interrupted from the doorway. "But might I offer a suggestion? Speak to Caroline directly, Niklaus. Clearly you speaking about her to me and to Kol, and her speaking about you to Rebekah, Freya, and Bonnie isn't working for either of you. Talk to each other, rather than about each other."

"Are you completely unfamiliar with the Mikaelson family, Elijah? Have any of us ever done the rational thing when there was some hazardous, reckless, sure-to-be-unsuccessful method to be tried instead?" Kol mocked.

"He has a point," Klaus acknowledged.

Before Elijah could defend his hopeful idealism, Freya and Bonnie came back into the room.

"We have some bad news," Freya told them. "Caroline isn't here."

{ }

The next forty-eight minutes were unbearable chaos.

Klaus was yelling at everyone and frantically calling the hybrids tasked with protecting Caroline. Freya tried to apologize for not noticing that Caroline had left, while Elijah tried to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. With Freya distracted, Bonnie took charge of the magical resources and performed a locator spell, explaining the process to Hope, who was observing. Hayley had taken one look at Klaus's irate face and sped from the room. Kol and Rebekah had gone out to look for her immediately upon seeing how agitated Caroline's absence was making Klaus.

If they had waited a few more minutes for Bonnie to complete the locator spell, they would have seen that Caroline was already on her way back to the mansion.

It took exactly forty-eight minutes from the time Freya announced that Caroline wasn't at home for the vampire in question to enter the courtyard, a bag from a local grocery store in her hand.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the Mikaelsons in such obvious distress.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked.

"Where have you been?" Klaus asked, rushing forward.

"I went to the store," Caroline answered. "Bonnie and I were going to have a girls' night tonight after we got back from shopping, but since this house is mostly inhabited by vampires, you don't have much in the way of snacks."

She held out the bag, showing him the assortment of candy, ice cream, cookies, and chips that she'd purchased.

"You can't just leave like that without telling anyone!" Klaus scolded her.

"Can't I?" Caroline asked. "I'm an adult; I'm more than capable of going to the store by myself. And my bodyguards knew where I was."

"They were supposed to be inconspicuous," Klaus complained.

"They tried, but do you really think that someone who's been kidnapped and tortured as much as I have can just ignore it when four hybrids are following her around?" Caroline asked.

"Even with protection, I don't like you going out by yourself. Next time you need something, let me know and I'll get it for you, or I'll go with you," Klaus instructed.

"What? No!" Caroline exclaimed. "You can't boss me around like that!"

"Try and stop me," Klaus challenged.

"Look, Klaus, I know that you are still on edge after thinking your daughter was missing this morning, but I'm not your daughter," Caroline retorted. "And I'm not your wife, or your girlfriend, or your sister, or the mother of your daughter. And even if I was, you still wouldn't have the right to dictate where I can go or what I can do."

"Well, then I sincerely apologize for trying to keep you safe, love," Klaus spat, then stormed out of the room.

Caroline looked around the room, everyone else appearing to be as stunned by Klaus's outburst as she was.

"I should go apologize," Caroline said, then rushed after Klaus.

{ }

Caroline found Klaus upstairs in his art studio. He wasn't painting or sketching when she walked in, he was just sitting on the couch staring off into space.

"My concern for your safety has nothing to do with what happened this morning," Klaus said without looking up.

"And I appreciate your concern, but you can't lock me in a cage for your own peace of mind," Caroline answered.

"Are you sure that's why you're angry with me, love?" Klaus asked.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm upset with you for not trusting me or respecting me enough to accept that I can take care of myself. Why else would I be angry with you?" Caroline questioned.

"Kol told me what he heard you discussing with Freya this morning," Klaus said.

Caroline sighed. This was not how she wanted to have this conversation.

"Well, I wish he hadn't done that, but I didn't say anything I thought was untrue, and I didn't specifically tell him not to tell you, so I can't really be mad that he did," she said.

"He told me that you think that Hayley, Hope and I make up some invented royal family of werewolves and that you are not welcome in it, and that you don't want to think that Hope only exists because Hayley wanted to show you that she'd been able to seduce me, that the affection I felt for you wasn't enough to keep me from acting on whatever fleeting physical attraction I felt for her," Klaus told her.

"Those are the highlights, yeah," Caroline confirmed.

It was Klaus's turn to sigh.

"I don't know what else I can do to prove to you that you're important to me, Caroline," Klaus said. "But Hayley and I have a daughter. I hate how she hurt you yesterday for her own selfish ends, and I've told her in no uncertain terms what I will do if she tries anything like that again, but she's still Hope's mother. We still have a daughter together. I can't change that. Even if I could, I wouldn't, because Hope is my daughter and I love her. I just don't know what you want from me. I'm not angry with you for having children with another man. Am I envious? Absolutely. But angry? No."

"Right, I forgot, of the two of us you're the morally superior one," Caroline snapped. "And that's a completely different situation. I didn't ask for this. I was made a magical incubator for two children that weren't biologically mine, without my consent."

"I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made that comparison," Klaus admitted. "But it wasn't as if you were waiting chastely at home for me, and I never promised to do the same."

"No, you didn't," Caroline agreed. "But a word of advice? If you want to be in a relationship with someone, you probably shouldn't tell them that your feelings for them aren't enough for you to not sleep with someone else."

"I couldn't have you!" Klaus exclaimed. "I wanted to be with you, but I couldn't, and Hayley was there, and so I was with her. The last thing I expected was for her to become pregnant."

"But she did. And now you have a daughter with her, and the three of you are a family, whether you like it or not," Caroline said. "The Wolf King, the Wolf Queen, and their precious little Wolf Princess. It's almost too perfect."

Caroline was getting frustrated and exhausted with the cyclical nature of this fight. Neither of them could go back in time and change their actions in the past; all they could do was try to move forward, but at the moment it seemed impossible.

"Why did you think of this today?" Klaus asked abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked. "I didn't think of this today. It didn't just occur to me that Hope exists, and that Hayley is her mother and you're her father. She's got bright red hair and more charm than you could ever dream of having, she's kind of hard to miss."

"I mean, why did you decide to talk to Freya and Kol about this today," Klaus explained.

"And Rebekah," Caroline added. "Rebekah was there, too."

"Caroline," Klaus grumbled.

"Fine," Caroline sighed. "This morning, when I heard you and Hayley fighting, it reminded me of the way my parents fought before they got divorced. And maybe my mom and dad were fundamentally incompatible, but they were still married, and they still had a daughter together. They built a life together, and no legal document can just make that go away."

Caroline looked expectantly at Klaus when she finished talking, waiting for him to respond.

"That's not all, though, is it?" Klaus guessed.

Caroline glared at him.

"No, it isn't," she confessed. "Usually, when you and Hayley talk about Hope, you both call her 'my daughter,' but this morning, both of you called her 'our daughter.' Hayley even made a point of coming to my room to explain to me that Hope is both of yours."

"Is this what my life is going to be from now on?" Klaus wondered. "An endless cycle of Hayley doing stupid things, you complaining to me about them, and me apologizing to you for what she did?"

"That isn't what I was getting at," Caroline started.

"I have made it perfectly clear that I want to be with you," Klaus told her. "I don't know why you think that there's no room for you in my family, because my family has made room for you. You're the best friend Rebekah's had in years, Kol cares enough about you to let me know you're mad at me so that I can fix it, Freya likes you, and Hope adores you."

"But Hayley will always see me as the evil stepmother trying to steal her daughter away from her," Caroline said. "And being a part of a family of werewolves whose venom can kill me means any of you hating me or being upset with me could be hazardous to my health."

"Yes, Hayley and I have a child together, but we don't have any relationship outside of that. You're giving her opinion far more value than it's actually worth," Klaus responded.

"You live together and you're raising your child together. Anyone who didn't know better would look at your relationship and think you were married," Caroline said.

"I don't think anyone could ever imagine me married," Klaus retorted.

"No, you're right. I'm sure you see marriage as a trivial human custom. And 'as long as we both shall live' takes on a new meaning when you're a thousand-year-old vampire who will never die," Caroline replied.

"Ouch," Klaus chuckled. "Fortunately I have a thick skin, or else I might find your insinuation that no one would be able to tolerate me for my entire immortal life hurtful."

"Well, I found you having a child with another girl when you were supposedly in love with me hurtful," Caroline shot back. "And it's hard enough living with your daughter and the mother of your daughter, without a relationship with you complicating everything and making them hate me."

Caroline had never admitted in such blunt terms how much Klaus's dalliance with Hayley and Hope's subsequent arrival had hurt her and made her feel rejected and insecure, but as she did, she felt a weight lift of her chest, and once she started confessing her feelings, she couldn't stop.

"I just needed to say that, I think," Caroline said softly. "I just needed to say, and for you to hear me say, that you hurt me, when you slept with Hayley, and got her pregnant, and had Hope. That you made me feel like you were just another name on a very long list of people that I wasn't enough for, that I wasn't good enough for," Caroline continued, tears starting to fall down her cheeks and her voice increasing in volume. "You made me think that you loved me, that maybe, after trying so hard for so long, I was finally the one that someone chose, and loved more than anything else, but even if you did love me, you didn't love me that much. Just because we weren't together, so you weren't cheating on me, doesn't mean that what you did didn't hurt me, and make me feel like you didn't actually care about me, and you didn't care if you hurt me, as long as you got what you wanted in that moment. I've never been the most important thing in anyone's life before, not any boyfriends, or friends, or even my own parents. And I wasn't the most important thing in your life either, and Hope really just solidifies that. I told you, back at the safe house, how you having Hope made me feel insecure and scared that you could find someone you loved more than me, and you laughed because you thought that was impossible and ridiculous, but you didn't even acknowledge how I felt before you moved right on to how you felt and how you always keep your promises. So I am asking you now to listen to me, and to please understand that you hurt me, and accept that before you move on to however you feel about that."

Caroline kept wiping away her tears, but it was no use, the floodgates had already opened. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Caroline was uncontrollably weeping while Klaus watched, stunned and horrified.

Anger and regret each flickered briefly across Klaus's face before he turned and walked out of the room, his eyes carefully focused on anything except Caroline.

* * *

I'm sorry!  
Please remember that I'm posting Chapter Fourteen on Valentine's Day, and I love Valentine's Day, so I wouldn't publish a sad, angst-filled chapter on that day. There is light at the end of this tunnel!  
Here's a hint: two members of the Mikaelson family tell Caroline they love her next chapter. I would love to hear your guesses as to which characters in a review, as well as any other thoughts you have about this chapter and/or predictions of what might come next!  
Thank you for reading!  
love,  
charlotte


	14. Chapter XIV: Come Home to My Heart

Happy Valentine's Day, lovely readers! I consider all of you my Valentines, so please consider this chapter my Valentine's gift to you!

For those of you who haven't already seen, I would like to let you know that to celebrate my love of Valentine's Day, earlier this morning I published a little Klaroline Valentine's Day love story called _Give Me Love Like Her_ (the title comes from Klaroline's song, of course). I really loved writing it, and I hope you love reading it!

I'm also participating in the Klaroline Valentine Gift Exchange on Archive of Our Own (Have I mentioned that I really love Valentine's Day?), so after authors are revealed on Friday, I'll move my entry to this site as well so that everyone can read it on whatever platform they enjoy most.

Thank you all very much for your patience while I worked on my Valentine's Day projects! Now that those have been finished and posted, my only current writing project is this story.

Thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews on the last chapter; I loved reading them! To the reviewer who cried while reading the last chapter, if it makes you feel better, I cried while writing the last chapter. Another reviewer speculated that it might be Valentine's Day in the story as well as in the real world, so I wanted to clarify that, believe it or not, it's still June in the story. It's the very end of June, which means that, unfortunately, Klaus and Caroline are fighting on my birthday (which of course would happen to me), and we move into July this chapter. I also love that more than one of you said you missed the twins, who I've really come to love over the course of writing this story and I hope you love them, too, especially since they return to New Orleans for good this chapter!(:

I really appreciate everyone who said that they thought Caroline's feelings regarding Hayley and Hope were accurate. What was most important to me to get across was that Caroline was hurt that the one person who really seemed to love her and put her first, chose someone else, even if it was just momentary and even though there were no real feelings involved. I'm not trying to preach, I promise, I just think that Caroline feels that while sex does not equal love, and you don't have to love someone to have sex with them; if you are in love with someone, you probably shouldn't have sex with someone else.

In response to comments regarding Caroline moving out and finding her own place to live, there are a couple of reasons why I haven't written that. When Caroline first arrived in New Orleans, she didn't know for sure how long she would be staying, so it was easier for everyone for her to stay as a guest in the Mikaelsons' house. After it became clear that the move to New Orleans was permanent, the twins got really attached to Hope, and with everything else going on, Caroline didn't have the heart to separate them from their friend. Now all of the Mikaelsons consider Caroline a member of the family, and they like that she and the girls live with them. Also, Caroline living with them puts her on equal footing with Hayley, and I think Caroline moving out would feel like a surrender. I just don't like the image of Klaus, Hayley and Hope living together in the mansion and Caroline and the twins being forced to leave and live in a little townhouse or something somewhere else. Plus house hunting is a time-consuming process, even before you factor in hybrid bodyguards and siphon witch children—it could be months, even over a year before Caroline found a house that would meet her high standards. Lastly, when it comes to safety, there's nowhere safer for Caroline and her daughters than wherever Klaus is, whether they're on speaking terms at the moment or not.

Thank you to everyone who guessed who it is that tells Caroline they love her in this chapter! Some people thought it would be Hope and Klaus, some people thought it would be Rebekah and Klaus, I saw one guess for Freya and Klaus (thank you for including your reasoning—I think you're right, that Caroline's and Freya's similar openness to love and friendship form the foundation of their relationship) and one cynical soul didn't want to take for granted that Klaus would be one of them and guessed Hope and Rebekah. I've never inspired cynicism before, so that was a surprise for me, as I'm very much a naïve, optimistic, rose-colored-glasses-wearing person. Plus, Valentine's Day is full of love and hearts and pink! No cynicism on Valentine's Day! Thanks for all of your guesses, and you'll see very soon that some of you guessed correctly… (:

So here we are at Chapter Fourteen. This is my favorite chapter in the story so far, and it reminds me of Chapter Six (Klaus and Caroline's reunion), which was my favorite chapter before I wrote this one.

Caroline gets to complete the circle of a line she told Klaus on the show years ago, and I think it's my favorite thing she's said in this story. There are also quite a few other "quotes" (sort of) from the show, and as usual, I don't own them.

On a sort of similar note, I'm sending extra virtual love to everyone who catches my two (relatively subtle) references to my forever favorite show, _The West Wing_.

The last section of this chapter is just comic relief to hopefully make up for the end of the previous section, so I apologize to any of you who are heartbroken that you don't get to see what happened next.

(this chapter is over 10,000 words, which is crazy! Have fun!)

Happy Valentine's Day, happy reading—and you're welcome(:

* * *

There was a drawing waiting for Caroline when she woke up the next morning.

It had been placed on her nightstand while she slept, and it was a testament to just how physically and emotionally exhausted Caroline had been that her vampire reflexes hadn't reacted at all to the intrusion.

The picture was of Caroline and Hope, laughing at something someone outside the frame had said.

Caroline picked up the piece of paper and looked at it closely. She knew that it had been Klaus who had drawn this for her, but she didn't know why he thought that giving her drawings was the way to win her affection when it hadn't worked in the past.

Caroline could even guess why he had chosen to draw this particular scene, but she didn't know why he thought that would help his cause. Drawing Caroline and Hope together, showing Caroline that she liked Hope and enjoyed spending time with her, wasn't necessary, or even constructive to getting Caroline to forgive Klaus. Caroline knew that she liked Hope. Caroline would even go so far as to say that she loved Hope. What she didn't love was Hope's mother, and the circumstances of Hope's conception. She loved the beautiful, intelligent, curious, polite, strong-willed, artistic, determined little girl that Klaus and Hayley had created. She just didn't love that Klaus had created a baby with Hayley when he'd told her with his silence that she'd been correct in her conclusion that he was in love with her, and it hurt to know that Klaus's love for her wasn't enough for her to be the only girl he wanted, even if that meant he had to wait for her.

Leaving the drawing on the nightstand, Caroline quickly dressed in an outfit that screamed "I don't care what I look like today"—a pair of loose-fitting black jeans, a plain grey sweatshirt and pink fuzzy socks—and went downstairs.

When Caroline entered the dining room, she noticed that unlike most mornings, there was a variety of human breakfast foods laid out on the table, including a giant muffin basket.

"Whoa, someone went all out," Caroline marveled.

"Someone? I think it's pretty obvious who did this," Bonnie said, enjoying her own breakfast. Hayley and Hope sat across from her, each with a full plate of bacon and eggs and a blueberry muffin. Aside from a brief glare, Caroline didn't acknowledge the other mother, but she did smile warmly at Hope. She was making a concerted effort to make sure that Hope wasn't involved in Caroline's fights with either of her parents, so as to not make Hope uncomfortable or put any unnecessary strain on her friendship with the twins.

"Yes, well, it will all be for nothing unless there's…" Caroline trailed off, looking in the basket. "Victory is mine!" she cheered, pulling out a cranberry muffin.

"So are you considering forgiving Klaus now that you've got your cranberry muffin? By the way, I will never understand your preference for cranberry," Bonnie critiqued.

"I like cranberry! Cranberries remind me of cranberry sauce, which reminds me of Thanksgiving, which despite its association with white settlers' long-running and widespread mistreatment of Native Americans, I love and appreciate for its original intention of reserving one day a year to simply be grateful for all of the good things in your life," Caroline explained.

"Please just eat your muffin," Bonnie sighed.

From the other end of the table, Rebekah and Freya shook their heads.

"I thought Caroline and Hayley were going to be fighting today," Rebekah whined. "You need to start wearing hats or something so that the rest of us know for sure. The silent treatment isn't nearly as entertaining."

"Why did you think I would be fighting with Hayley?" Caroline asked.

"You live in a house full of vampires now, Caroline. You can't have an argument inside the house without other people hearing it," Rebekah answered.

"Wait, back up. Why do you think Caroline is mad at me, and why do you think I'm mad at her?" Hayley asked, clearly trying to determine how much of their fight Rebekah had heard and reported to Klaus.

Rebekah shot a quick look at Hope.

"It's that bad?" Hayley asked.

Rebekah just nodded.

"Find out anything interesting from listening in on our conversation?" Caroline asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Rebekah replied, ignoring Caroline's sarcasm. "I'm pleased that you're taking ownership of your feelings and insisting that Nik acknowledge them."

"Where is Klaus?" Caroline asked. "I wouldn't have guessed that the Mikaelsons subscribed to the 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day' theory, but it's strange that he's not here."

"He left already," Freya responded. "And I think he took Elijah with him."

Hope finished her breakfast and scampered off, but Hayley remained at the table.

"Okay, she's gone. Why are we mad at each other?" Hayley repeated.

"It shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out, just think of all of the insensitive things you said yesterday," Rebekah said.

Hayley just looked at her blankly.

Rebekah let out an exasperated sigh.

"You repeatedly gave Caroline the impression that you, Klaus, and Hope are your own superior subset of the Mikaelson family, and that Caroline is not allowed to interact with it in anyway, as she is not a werewolf with special powers and a royal title," Rebekah explained. "Not to mention the fact that the previous day you betrayed her and her children as part of an ultimately useless effort to allow werewolves to enter the city after you stubbornly ignored all of us when we told you that no one wants that."

Bonnie looked surprised and insulted on her friend's behalf, but didn't say anything, not wanting to get embroiled in Mikaelson family drama, but Caroline appreciated her silent support, and made a mental note to fill her in later.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mark my territory like that," Hayley said, and Caroline could practically see her sigh of relief when Rebekah didn't mention their argument. "That was a wolf joke," she added when no one laughed.

Hayley was too relieved to be suspicious, but Caroline was surprised that Rebekah seemed to have not listened to their argument, especially since she'd referenced the conversation that had immediately preceded it. Had Rebekah stopped listening when Hayley said she was leaving, and missed the fight that had followed when Caroline's biting remark had prompted her to stay? It seemed unlikely, but Caroline couldn't think of a reason why Rebekah would pretend not to have heard what the vicious accusations Hayley had thrown at Caroline when explaining why she thought Caroline would have been angry at Hayley. Plus, a fight between Caroline and Hayley was the sort of drama that would send the entire house into a tailspin, and no one had said anything about it, either the previous day or that morning. Considering Rebekah's penchant for eavesdropping, the odds of no one listening in and the odds of Rebekah not listening in were similarly improbable. Rebekah had practically told Caroline at the safe house that she was pretty much always listening in on everyone's conversations, so why hadn't she listened to this one, or why was she pretending that she hadn't?

"It's fine, Hayley," Caroline replied. "Hayley and I may not be best friends after the events of the last few days, but we're not fighting either. And even if we were, I wouldn't want any of you or the girls in the middle of it. I'm not mad at anyone. I'm not even mad at Rebekah for eavesdropping."

"We'd still love you even if you were mad," Freya chimed in. Rebekah nodded emphatically in agreement.

Hayley made a strange noise that sounded like she was choking.

"Well, I guess I should only speak for myself," Freya said, assuming that Hayley resented being included in her profession of love for Caroline. "I love you, Caroline, whether you're mad at us or not. In my experience, people usually get the maddest at the people they love most, because they care about them so much."

"I love you, too, Freya, and I appreciate you saying that, but I'm not mad, I promise," Caroline insisted.

Rebekah's expression made clear she didn't believe her, but she refrained from commenting.

"So none of you know where Klaus is," Caroline tried to steer the conversation back to her original question.

"He's probably buying you presents," Rebekah speculated. "Knowing Nik, he spent all last night brooding, and now he's determined to make it up to you."

"It's more likely that he's avoiding me, but I appreciate your optimism," Caroline said.

"You don't know that," Rebekah insisted, refusing to let Caroline's attitude sway her.

While Caroline would have certainly preferred for Rebekah to have been right, Klaus didn't come home with any gifts for her. He didn't even speak to her.

{ }

Two weeks later, nothing had changed. Every morning, a new drawing would be waiting for Caroline, but for the rest of the day, Klaus would ignore her.

The twins had come back two days earlier, and while their presence hadn't changed Klaus's behavior towards her, Caroline was glad that Klaus hadn't changed his behavior towards them.

That morning, the drawing Caroline had received was of her holding each of the twins' hands. It had taken Caroline a second to place the scene, but when she saw the shadow of the staircase behind them, she realized that Klaus had drawn the three of them as he'd seen them when they came to rescue him.

And that was when Caroline snapped.

She had driven over a thousand miles, with her children, to save him.

She'd helped to revive his four siblings, one of whom she'd never met and another who'd been lying dead in her best friend's kitchen the last time she'd seen him.

She'd planned a party in a week, with no idea how many people would be in attendance, just because he'd asked her to.

She'd joined a supernatural council tasked with restoring order to New Orleans.

And she'd been happy to do all of those things, many of which had benefitted her as well. It was just that, Caroline reasoned to herself, after all she'd done for him, it didn't feel like too much to ask for him to merely acknowledge her feelings in return.

Klaus Mikaelson had turned Caroline Forbes's life upside-down, inside-out, completely topsy-turvy from the moment that Katherine Pierce had decided to include Caroline in her plan to earn her freedom from Klaus. Since that day, it seemed, everything Caroline had done had related back to Klaus in some way, whether it was participating in plots to kill him, distracting him, spurning his advances, or asking him for favors.

The Caroline who had hated Klaus before she'd even met him because of what he planned to do to Elena, the Caroline who had told Tyler that she was sure Klaus was incapable of real feelings, the Caroline who had vehemently insisted that Klaus was a terrible person because of the terrible things he'd done—she was gone. That Caroline had grown up. She'd come to terms with what she was, she'd had to kill to survive, she'd experienced loss, grief, heartbreak, and betrayal. She'd become a mother.

Her priorities had changed. She would no longer be content with relationships and friendships that clipped her wings and kept her stuck on the ground when she knew now that she wanted to be surrounded by people who wanted to help her fly.

The friends she'd made in New Orleans fit those criteria. Klaus had offered to show her the world and everything it had to offer, several times, but he never really counted as a friend, did he? Rebekah often talked about her love of the fashion, art, culture, and history of her favorite cities in Europe: Paris, Milan, London, Madrid—and those were just her very favorites. Elijah recounted the governments and empires he had seen come in to power and then lose it, rise and then fall. Kol frequently reminisced about his adventures all over the world, regaling them with stories about parties he had attended and famous people he had known. Even Bonnie, the center of the Venn diagram made up of two circles representing Caroline's old life in Mystic Falls and her new life in New Orleans, had a wanderlust that evaded Elena, the Salvatores, Matt, Alaric, and all of their parents, who had all been content to live in Mystic Falls all their lives and never see anything more of the world.

In Mystic Falls, her friends had kept her grounded. Reminded her that what she was wasn't normal, and that she needed to hide it. They'd encouraged her to play it safe and to live as human a life as possible.

That was what she'd sought in her relationship with Stefan, was it not? They'd been friends, he made her feel safe, and they could help each other control their vampire natures.

But Caroline was tired of controlling her vampire nature, of hiding what she was and being ashamed of herself. She wanted to be proud of who and what she was the way the Mikaelsons were, the way Freya and Bonnie were proud to be witches, the way Hayley was proud to be a werewolf. She wanted to spend her time with people who accepted and even celebrated her the way she was.

What she'd really wanted was Elena's relationship with Stefan. She wanted the all-consuming, unconditional, epic love that Stefan and Elena had shared; that was so important and powerful that it overcame every challenge that tried to stand in its way. Even when Stefan's humanity was turned off, his love for Elena was still so much a part of him that he could feel it, and act on it, even when he couldn't feel anything except for bloodlust.

Caroline should have known that a love like that wouldn't just vanish when Elena chose Damon.

Even if Caroline had made Stefan love her, he would never love her as much as he loved Elena.

Caroline and Stefan would have had a safe, ordinary small-town life. They would have been content, happy even. They would have watched the girls grow up, Stefan would have had to deal with the insufferable guilt he felt from all of the atrocities he'd committed as a vampire, and Caroline would have pretended not to be a vampire as much as she could to make him feel better. Damon would continue doing whatever he could to try to protect and revive Elena, and Stefan would continue to support everything Damon did. It would have been easy, to settle for third place on Stefan's priority list, to tolerate that small-town life.

But it wasn't what Caroline wanted.

Caroline wanted wings. Caroline wanted the world.

She wanted to make a wish at the Trevi Fountain, and kiss the love of her life at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and eat beignets while watching the Mardi Gras parade. She wanted views that would make her heart stop and take her breath away.

She wanted to travel the world with someone who would fall in love with her as she fell in love with the world, who would make her feel like every landmark and attraction they saw had been created solely for her to fall in love with, who would make every stop on their journey feel like home, whose love for her would tint all of her memories with a warm, rosy glow, who would nestle into her heart and make his home there, until his home was wherever she was and her home was with him, no matter how far from home they were.

She wanted the same things she'd wanted since her eighteenth birthday, when Klaus had saved her life and told her that she could have the whole world if that was what she wanted.

Caroline wasn't proud of how insecure she was around Klaus, but she'd settled for being the last resort before and she wanted to make sure she would be his first choice this time. She didn't think that it was so out of the question for her to be wary about starting a romantic relationship with the most powerful creature on the planet when every other relationship she'd ever had had failed, and she blamed herself for not being able to make those relationships work. She wouldn't survive it if Klaus, like every other boyfriend she'd ever had, realized that she wasn't enough for him. All she wanted was for him to make one last romantic overture to prove how much he loved her.

Instead of increasing his efforts to win her over after their argument, Klaus had retreated. She hadn't thought it would be so difficult for Klaus to acknowledge that she'd been hurt when she'd found out that Klaus had gotten Hayley pregnant while he was quite brazenly pursuing her.

Could this be the moment that Klaus finally decided that she wasn't worth the effort?

After all that she had put him through, all of the hoops that she had made him jump through for years, she wouldn't be surprised if she'd asked too much and finally caused Klaus to give up on her. She couldn't blame him; she'd taken him for granted, and now he was finally putting an end to her shamelessly taking advantage of his feelings for her.

She'd spent so much time being upset over what he'd done when they weren't together, and pushing him away because of it, that she'd managed to ruin any chance they had of actually being together.

Caroline shook herself out of her tirade of self-loathing.

He had promised her forever, he didn't get to give up after one fight.

He wouldn't have kept leaving her drawings, starting the day after they'd fought, if he didn't still care.

It was time to move forward, and not continue using the past as an excuse not to embrace the future.

Caroline took a deep breath and stood up.

She had a confession to make.

{ }

Lizzie giggled as she twirled, watching her pink tulle skirt spin out around her.

Dizzy, she stumbled and caught herself by putting her hands on Klaus's knees. Then, with all the resilience of a young child, she stood back up and scampered away.

Rebekah was forcing the girls to stage a little fashion show for her, modeling the clothes she and Klaus had bought for them before the twins had gone back to Mystic Falls. So all three girls were currently skipping around the courtyard while Rebekah appraised their outfits, and Klaus was being forced to watch.

The universe must have a very cruel sense of humor, Klaus thought, to give him—a man who had manipulated, bedded, used, and killed as many women as he had over his life—three little girls. This must be his punishment, a way of luring out the empathy he'd never used as he carelessly removed everyone and everything standing in the way of what he wanted. Surely there was no more fitting retribution for all the harm he'd done than setting these three beautiful, precious little girls in his path, making him fall in love with them, so that he would gladly and easily rip out the heart of anyone who dared to insult Hope, who made Josie cry, who so much as touched a golden hair on Lizzie's head, so that he would know what all of the loved ones of the people he had hurt felt like.

To his dismay (and to his surprise that he was dismayed), the twins weren't actually Klaus's children, but they were still his, in a way. Their mother had trusted him, and him alone, to take care of them and keep them safe when she was in trouble and running from danger. He wasn't their father, but he would be whatever they needed him to be.

He loved Lizzie and Josie, just as much as he loved Hope. Caroline laughed at how all three girls had him wrapped around their little fingers, and though Klaus had been tempted to tell her that she shouldn't laugh, because she did, too, she was right. There was nothing he wouldn't do for the four of them, and the thought of them hurt in any way made him feel sick. Caroline was already frozen in time at seventeen; if he could, he would keep their three little girls from getting any older than they were now, because the idea of them growing up and wanting to take on the world on their own terrified him.

Lizzie was prompting Josie and Hope to spin with her. Josie complied easily, her red skirt fanning out and brushing the hem of Lizzie's. Hope, stubborn as both her parents, resisted, a sullen statue of red hair and purple dress, until something in Lizzie and Josie's infectious giggles made her want to play along. Only once it was her idea to join in did she participate.

Hope would be dangerous when she got older; she had Hayley's bark and Klaus's bite. She had a fiery temper to match her fiery red hair, though she wasn't as quick to anger as either of her parents were. She was loyal, protective, and defensive of the people she cared about. She was creative, curious, persistent, stubborn, strong, and determined; if the witches hadn't been able to prove Hope was his child and he still had his doubts when she was born, Hope's personality certainly proved that she was a Mikaelson.

Klaus turned his attention to the other girls.

Lizzie was full of happiness and light in a way that Klaus associated with Caroline. She was a very sweet, lovely, angelic little girl; always kind and polite. She was remarkably intuitive and sensitive for her age and could easily pick up on the emotions of those around her, and she was compassionate and empathetic enough to want to try to help them feel better. She was emotional and talkative; clearly subscribing to Caroline's theory that talking about one's feelings was the best way acknowledge, understand, and resolve them.

Josie fit neatly between the other two girls as the peacemaker and happy medium, and though she might sometimes be momentarily overlooked because of Hope and Lizzie's bolder personalities, their little trio wouldn't work without her. She was just as polite and kind as her twin, but she was more reserved. She was smart and devoted to her family and friends. She clung to Freya, wanting to learn more about her magic, and she fascinated Kol with her seriousness, discipline, and commitment to her craft at such a young age.

As far as Klaus was concerned, the girls may not be sisters, but they did belong together. Lizzie and Josie would be left a little vulnerable without Hope's stubborn, protective leadership, Josie and Hope would be left a little melancholy without Lizzie's sweetness and optimism, and Hope and Lizzie would be left a little disjointed without Josie's focus.

All three girls weren't his daughters, but he wanted them all to be his family.

But Caroline apparently wasn't so sure.

He knew that Caroline must have some feelings for him or she wouldn't have stayed with him, in his house, in New Orleans all this time. He knew that as upset as she was over the circumstances of his daughter's birth, Caroline really did adore Hope. He knew that Caroline must know how he felt about her, how much he wanted to be with her.

He'd never made any secret of how much he cared about her, even as she played the distraction, he still followed after her, panting like a desperate dog in search of a treat. Every time he'd been angry with her, for taking advantage of his feelings for her, or for plotting against him with her friends, with one toss of her blonde hair, with one sweet smile, he'd been hers all over again. Eventually he'd stopped fooling himself and admitted that he had been hers since he'd first saw her in that chemistry lab in the high school, and he would always be hers.

When she'd said that she knew he was in love with her, part of him was horrified that he'd been so obvious, but part of him wondered what had taken her so long to figure it out. No one had ever stunned him the way Caroline had; no one had ever challenged him and inspired him and made him want to be good so that he would be worthy of her the way Caroline had; and no one had ever taken hold of his heart the way Caroline had. Of course, at that moment, he wasn't even sure how right she'd been, since if he really loved her, how could he have hurt her the way he did?

He heard muffled, half-hearted protests as Rebekah ordered the girls to go change into different outfits. They came back a few minutes later in slightly different dresses in similar colors.

Klaus never felt quite as powerless as he did around Caroline. There was genuinely nothing else he could do that he hadn't already done to convince her that he wanted to be with her. He couldn't remove Hayley from his life, and he couldn't make Caroline not be hurt by her role in his life.

He was quite disgusted with himself that, as Caroline had wisely pointed out, he hadn't ever really stopped to consider that his actions had inadvertently hurt Caroline. He'd only seen his own perspective: he couldn't be with Caroline, so he was with someone else. Someone who was willing, and who didn't mean anything to him. He'd explained it away to himself, justified it by saying that Caroline shouldn't get a say in what he did when she kept rejecting him and remained in a relationship with someone else.

He should have known that feelings didn't work like that.

Whether they were in a relationship or not, he was still the only person in Caroline's life who treated her like she was special, worthy, deserving… and he'd squandered that on a one-night-stand he'd regretted almost immediately afterward.

Then he'd been so stupid as to make it sound as if his very, very brief physical attraction to Hayley (which was certainly enhanced by copious amounts of alcohol and Hayley's reminder that neither of them could be with the person they actually wanted to be with) was more important than his feelings for Caroline. She'd already been hurt by his dalliance with Hayley, then he had to go and hurt her more by giving her the impression that it was far more important to him than it actually was.

So now he was keeping his distance, because he didn't trust himself not to hurt her again in a clumsy attempt to make amends. He left her the drawings every morning to remind her that he was thinking of her, but until she was ready to forgive him of her own volition, he was going to keep his distance for her sake.

If only his enemies could see him now, he mused, the Original Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson walking on eggshells because of a baby vampire.

She was worth it.

He glanced up again to see Hope, Josie, and Lizzie still playing in the courtyard.

 _They_ were worth it. Perhaps love wasn't such a great weakness after all.

{ }

When Caroline came downstairs and entered the courtyard to see Klaus smiling as he watched the three girls play, she almost lost her nerve. She didn't want to interrupt such a precious moment.

She took a quick step backwards, hiding in the shadows so that they wouldn't notice her. The girls wouldn't have seen or heard her, and Klaus was too focused on Hope, Lizzie, and Josie to use his vampire senses to find out who had come downstairs.

Then she decided that even if she was too nervous to resolve her and Klaus's relationship issues for them, she had to do it for their daughters.

Hope had adopted Lizzie and Josie as her sisters just as the adult Mikaelsons had adopted them as honorary nieces. The three girls were inseparable, they were best friends. They played together every day and color coordinated their outfits. Hope had cried when the twins had left.

In the three of them, Caroline saw herself, Bonnie, and Elena. Three friends who had claimed each other as sisters, and who supported each other through all of the ups and downs of the supernatural world. Which of the three of them would grow up to be beautiful, beloved Elena? Which would be powerful, fierce Bonnie? And which would be Caroline, forever just not quite as good as the other two?

Caroline wouldn't let that happen. She would tell all three of them, every day, how special and beautiful and smart and powerful and loved they are.

And she knew that Hayley would do the same with Hope. Hayley and the Mikaelsons would never let Hope feel as insecure and unloved as Caroline had felt, would never let her go a day without hearing how strong and powerful and beautiful and amazing she was. Caroline and Hayley may never have been close friends, and they possibly never would be, but they did have a unique bond as mothers of very special supernatural children. Caroline wouldn't easily forgive Hayley's betrayal, but she had made up her mind that she would relinquish her hurt over Hayley being the mother of Klaus's child. Though Caroline would never be overjoyed that Klaus and Hayley had a daughter together, she was starting to come to terms with the fact that she could accept it, however reluctantly, and try to at least be civil with Hayley for their daughters' sake, and love Hope, and be with Klaus.

A little girl's cry brought Caroline back to Earth. Lizzie had tripped over an uneven cobblestone in the courtyard and fallen. Caroline didn't rush over to help her up, knowing that, based on her experiences with her daughter, Lizzie was more annoyed that she'd fallen and gotten her dress dirty than she was actually hurt. Lizzie's 'in genuine pain' scream was different than the noise she'd just made.

Klaus, however, either didn't know that or didn't care, because he immediately leapt into action and was kneeling at her side in an instant. If Klaus had his way, nothing would ever hurt or offend or annoy his precious little angel.

"What's wrong, little angel?" he soothed, wiping her tears and scooping her up in his arms. Lizzie flung her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

It still warmed Caroline's heart to see Klaus comforting her children and referring to them by affectionate terms of endearment. The sweet, unique pet names also had the added advantage of giving each of the girls their own sense of identity.

Lizzie was always angel, sweetheart, little lady, Goldilocks, or sometimes princess; Josie got all of the traditional food and flower pet names: honey, pumpkin, cupcake, sugar plum, sweet pea; Hope's were more personalized, both to Hope and to the person giving her the nickname: Klaus called her his littlest wolf or his little wolf princess, Caroline called her little mermaid, and Kol called her little red.

Caroline had worried about how the girls would feel about Klaus and his family, but it was clear that the twins adored the Mikaelsons and the Mikaelsons adored the twins. Regardless of what happened between her and Klaus, Caroline was confident that he and his family would always welcome the girls.

All of the Mikaelsons loved the twins, but none more than Klaus. Caroline had known long before she'd ever seen Klaus with his daughter that Klaus was capable of love, but it was still heartwarming to see him finally stop viewing love as a weakness and admit to loving not just his daughter, but her daughters as well. In this moment of emotional turmoil, Caroline felt close to tears watching Klaus be so openly affectionate with Lizzie, spinning her in circles to make her laugh.

The moment he met them, Klaus added the twins to the short list of people that he loved, and once someone was on that list, they were on it for good. Caroline knew from her own experience that Klaus's heart wasn't a fickle thing, and once he gave it away, he would never ask for it back. She also knew from her own experience that Klaus would do anything for the people he loved, whether it was keeping them in coffins so that they would always be safe, or giving up revenge on an enemy just because they'd asked him to.

Caroline had no more excuses. She could no longer hide behind worrying about the girls' reactions, or mourning her relationship with Stefan, or her own insecurities. It all came down to two simple questions: did she love Klaus, and did she want to be with him.

And as Klaus turned around, still holding Lizzie and murmuring words of comfort in her ear, their eyes met, and Caroline knew what the answer to both of her questions was.

{ }

Caroline approached Klaus, who immediately set Lizzie down and told her to go play with the other girls. Lizzie gave him a sad little pout that could melt the hardest of hearts, and though usually Klaus fell for it, today he was standing firm.

"It looks like your mother needs to talk to me, sweetheart, and I'm sure it's important. Please go play with Hope and Josie, and I'll be back as soon as we're finished," Klaus promised.

Lizzie reluctantly toddled off, leaving Caroline and Klaus in a face-off.

"I do need to talk to you," Caroline broke the silence.

"All right, then," Klaus responded, leading them into his study and closing the door behind him. "What is it you would like to talk about?"

"I owe you an apology."

Whatever Klaus had been expecting Caroline to say, that wasn't it. His eyes widened, clearly surprised.

"Caroline," Klaus started.

"No, please, just let me say this," Caroline said.

Klaus nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"I am sorry for pushing you away because of my own insecurities, and for continuing to be mad about you and Hayley, even though it's in the past so there's really no use dwelling on it, and for using my relationship with Stefan and my worries about the girls as excuses to keep you at arm's length. I shouldn't have said that you didn't love me, because even if you don't, I shouldn't presume to know how you feel, and I shouldn't have acted like you loving me was a given, or something that I was entitled to. If it's any consolation, I feel like a horrible person for using you, and taking advantage of your feelings for me, and taking you for granted," Caroline rushed out all in one breath.

Klaus's posture softened after Caroline finished her apology.

"Caroline, love, you have every right to feel however you feel, whether it's useful or not," Klaus said. "You don't have to apologize for being cautious, or wary, or scared, or whatever you might feel towards me. You are not a horrible person, and if you have taken advantage of me, which I don't believe you have, it is only because I have allowed you to do so."

"So you aren't mad at me?" Caroline asked.

"No, I'm not mad at you," Klaus confirmed.

"Then why have you been avoiding me for the last two weeks?" Caroline demanded.

Klaus looked embarrassed.

"I was ashamed of myself for some of the things that I said to you the last time we spoke," Klaus confessed. " I didn't want to risk hurting you even more than I already had, so I decided to give you space and wait until you felt comfortable approaching me."

"Which would explain the drawings," Caroline said.

"I left drawings for you every day to reassure you that you were never far from my thoughts," Klaus confirmed.

"What was it you said that you were so ashamed of?" Caroline asked.

"I made a comment about how I had acted on my fleeting physical attraction to Hayley, which was aided by alcohol and a mutual feeling of rejection from the people we really wanted to be with, in spite of my feelings for you. At the time, I justified this to myself by insisting that I was not beholden to you in any way, as much as I might like to be, and that you were in a relationship with someone else, so why should I not have liaisons with whomever I wanted? I have since realized that you would have interpreted such an assertion as a conclusion about your own importance, and that you might have thought that I was saying that you were not worth waiting for, which of course could not be further from the truth. However, you asked me to consider my actions from your perspective, and upon reflection, I can see how my impulsive comment, combined with the fact that Hayley is living in this house, could have made you feel insecure and would not have inspired your confidence in my ability to remain faithful to you," Klaus explained.

Caroline was stunned by how seriously he had taken her request to consider her feelings and the amount of thought he had put into this. Though he was saying everything she wanted to hear, it didn't feel like the slick lines he'd offered in the past when he was trying to win her over. Caroline could tell that he honestly meant what he was saying.

"Oh," Caroline blinked rapidly and swallowed hard, unable to say anything else.

"So what's next, Caroline?" Klaus asked.

"What do you mean?" Caroline stammered.

"I mean, you seem to have made your peace with my past transgressions. What does this mean for the future of our relationship?" Klaus asked.

"What do you want it to mean?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not going to let you do that," Klaus scolded, shaking his head. "I won't let you make this about me when this is about you. This is about what you want. Have you really still not figured out that I will always want whatever makes you happy?"

"Fine," Caroline responded. "I will be honest with you about what I want."

She smiled shyly at Klaus, knowing he would recognize those words. Sure enough, he was smiling in return.

"I want you to keep all of the promises you've made me," Caroline said. "I want you to show me the whole world that you told me is out there waiting for me. I want you to show me all of the great cities and art and music that you told me I can have. I want you to take me to Rome, Paris, and Tokyo; to see your landscape that's hanging at the Hermitage, and wherever else I want to go. I want to let you show me what the world has to offer. I want to let you show me all of your favorite places in the world and all of their food, music, art, and culture. And I want you to be my last love, Klaus."

"What a coincidence," Klaus answered. "That's what I want as well."

Klaus took a tentative step closer to Caroline.

"I want to keep all of the promises I've made you," Klaus said. "I want to show you the whole world that is out there waiting for you, and I want to get swept up in your infectious excitement as you see and learn and try new things. I want to show you all of the great cities and art and music that you can have, and I want to see your eyes light up with happiness when you see them, and I'll know that the genuine beauty I told you that you would see isn't what you're looking at, it's you looking at it. I want to take you to Rome, Paris, and Tokyo, and let you drag me to every tourist trap that you want to see and I've seen a thousand times already, because nothing is more important to me than making you happy. I want to take you to see my landscape that's hanging at the Hermitage, and listen to you critique it, even though you're not an art expert, you're a know-it-all with an opinion on everything, because there isn't a more beautiful sound in the world than your laugh. I want to take you wherever you want to go, and I hope that list of places you want me to take you keeps growing so that I keep getting to travel the world with you and show you what the world has to offer. I want to show you all of my favorite places, and watch as you fall in love with every single one of them. And I want to be your last love, Caroline."

Caroline started to cry.

"What's wrong, why are you crying?" Klaus worried.

"You say things like that and I have no idea how I resisted you for so long," Caroline cried. "No one else has ever considered my happiness a priority. I've never been as important to anyone as I am to you."

"And that is a travesty, my love," Klaus responded. "Anyone who has ever treated you as if you were anything less than a miracle is a fool. I know that I consider ever moment that you grace me with your presence a blessing, and you deserve that from everyone who is fortunate enough to know you."

Caroline just cried harder at Klaus's sweet words.

While Caroline was making her apology, Klaus had resolutely stood several feet away from her, but with Caroline in tears, he quickly rushed forward to hold her in his arms. Caroline crashed into him as he reached out for her, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her head in his shoulder as his arms encircled her waist.

"Please stop crying, my love," Klaus whispered in her ear, one hand reaching up to stroke her hair. "I wish you wouldn't get so upset over me. You are so beautiful, and perfect, and everything that is good in this world. I'm not worth your tears."

Caroline looked up at him.

"How can you say such lovely things about me and such hateful things about yourself?" Caroline wondered.

Caroline felt her heart sink. She felt like a horrible, selfish person. She had been so caught up in her own insecurities that she hadn't even stopped to think that Klaus might have his own uncertainties about their relationship. She'd seen Klaus exhibit a wide range of emotions that most people, with the exception of maybe some members of his family, never got to see. She'd seen him devastated, when he'd lost his brother. She'd seen him humble, when he'd talked about his art. She'd seen him embarrassed, when she'd rolled her eyes at his line about her bracelet once belonging to a princess almost as beautiful as she was. She'd seen him conciliatory, vengeful, assertive, defensive, charming—but she'd never seen him reach this level of self-loathing.

"A thousand years' worth of self-awareness," Klaus answered. "I know who I am by now. I've done horrible things; I've killed, I've stolen, I've compelled, I've threatened. And I look at you, so pure and innocent and full of light, and I know that there's no way I could ever be worthy of you, but I can't help myself from wishing I could. Then I remember that Hades didn't deserve Persephone, he stole her, and I fear that's what I've done with you."

They were actually perfect for each other, Caroline thought. Neither of them had ever experienced true, unconditional love, and had convinced themselves that they were unworthy of it. They each thought they weren't good enough for the other, though they had different interpretations of what 'good enough' meant. Caroline thought that she was too average and inadequate to be with Klaus, that he should be with someone more special and powerful, while Klaus thought that he literally wasn't good enough for Caroline, that he was evil, too dark and violent to deserve her. Caroline decided that she would make it her mission to convince Klaus that he did deserve her, or at least that she knew all of the horrible things that he had done and still wanted to be with him anyway.

"You are more than those horrible things," Caroline told him. "You forget that I have seen the side of you that is human and good. You are such a loving, devoted father, not just to your own daughter, but to mine, too. The twins adore you, they hated leaving you to go back to Mystic Falls. You are a good brother, to Kol, who admires you and looks up to you, to Elijah, who always stands by your side, to Rebekah, who trusts you more than anyone else, to Freya, who you welcomed into this crazy family after a thousand years apart. You have been so patient with me, even as I pushed you away, and no one could fault you for giving up on me, but you didn't. I'm here to stay, no tricks or pomegranates necessary."

"That's very kind of you to say, my love, but I am afraid that there is nothing you could say that would convince me that I deserve you. An angel like you deserves far better than the king of Hell, a man condemned to an eternity of darkness with no hope of salvation," Klaus said.

"But you don't know what I know," Caroline paused to take a shuddering breath. "I know that I'm in love with you, and anyone capable of being loved is capable of being saved."

Caroline had never seen anyone ever look so purely, overwhelmingly happy as Klaus did in that moment. His eyes were tightly closed, as if ensuring that if this happiness was only a product of his imagination that no one shatter his illusion and force him to return to a reality where this moment of incandescent, all-consuming happiness was only in his head. His wide smile unfurled slowly like a flag, growing as he replayed her words inside his head.

Then his eyes sprang open and refocused to meet Caroline's. His hands moved to cup her face, keeping her gaze on him.

"I love you, Caroline Forbes, with all of my heart, with everything I am, everything I've ever been, and everything I'll ever be," Klaus whispered reverently. "You are my salvation, you are my everything. I will love you for as long as I live."

Caroline had known for quite a while that Klaus loved her, but hearing him say it out loud for the first time made her feel an all-consuming sense of happiness and peace. She'd been trying so hard and for so long to get someone to choose her and love her, and now she knew, without question, that Klaus loved her with all of his heart and would for the rest of their lives, she could finally stop and relax and just be. She'd never felt as safe and warm and loved as she did now in Klaus's arms, because she loved him and he loved her in return. She was his, and he was hers, and so they would remain forever.

Then, very slowly, Klaus leaned down to kiss Caroline. He kissed her so softly that she almost missed the moment that his lips met hers. He was so gentle that he must have been worried that she might break if he was too rough with her, but how could she possibly fall when he was there to catch her? Caroline tried to pull him closer to her, not wanting any distance between them, responding enthusiastically to the kiss, but Klaus refused to let things get any more intense. All too quickly, he was pulling away, only to start playfully placing little kisses on her cheeks, forehead, and nose.

"You have made me so happy," Klaus whispered to her between kisses.

Caroline offered him a dazzling smile.

"I love you," she said, loving the way it felt to finally tell him.

"I love you more," Klaus replied, kissing her again when she pouted at what she thought was an incorrect assumption.

After a few more minutes of kissing and repeatedly professing their love for each other, they made their way, smiling and giggling, from Klaus's study to his bedroom upstairs, where Klaus quickly forgot his promise to Lizzie to return to the courtyard as soon as he and Caroline were finished talking.

{ }

When they heard Caroline and Klaus approach the door, Freya and Bonnie quickly scurried away, still holding the water glasses they had been holding up to the door. The two witches were at a disadvantage in a house where they were the only adults without vampire hearing, so they needed to take desperate measures. They hid around the corner as Klaus and Caroline went upstairs, going into Klaus's bedroom and shutting the door behind them. It was only after the door closed that Freya and Bonnie squealed, in unison, "Finally!"

Elijah straightened his tie. Though he would never admit it out loud, he too had been following along with the ups and downs of Klaus and Caroline's relationship. He quite liked Caroline and was pleased that they seemed to have finally acknowledged their feelings for each other and began a romantic relationship. "It's about time," Elijah thought before returning to the paperwork on his desk.

Rebekah was watching Hope, Lizzie, and Josie dance around the courtyard while listening in to every word of Klaus and Caroline's conversation. She felt no shame at her emotional investment in her brother's relationship, especially since the love of Klaus's life was also Rebekah's best friend. When they finally told each other that they loved each other, Rebekah cheered loud enough to attract the girls' attention. "It's really good news, I promise," she assured them.

Kol's room was right next to Klaus's. He would have been unnerved by what he could hear through the wall if his vampire hearing didn't allow him to hear everything from anywhere in the house. He decided that as a show of support for Klaus and Caroline's new relationship, he would choose not to tease his brother later for the outrageously high number of times he told Caroline he loved her per minute (it was an average of sixteen). "Thank goodness they finally saw the light," he said quietly to himself, smirking and shaking his head.

Hayley sat in the kitchen alone. She had really only been keeping up with the Klaus and Caroline drama so that she would know where she and Hope stood with each of them. Now, it seemed like they were standing together. Though Klaus and Caroline being in a relationship would probably make her and her daughter's lives more complicated, Hayley was happy for them, knowing that Caroline would be happy for Hayley if she was happy and in love. Hayley took a green apple from the bowl on the counter that Caroline had stocked a few days earlier, insisting that the girls needed to eat healthy, and sighed before sitting back down. "At least I know she'll try to be a good stepmother to Hope," she mused.

* * *

Well?

Was it worth the wait? Was it everything you wished for? Did you love reading this as much as I loved writing it?

As always, I would love to hear what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!

However long it takes, loves, however long it takes(:

Thank you very much for reading!

Happy Valentine's Day, sweethearts!

love,

charlotte xo


	15. Chapter XV: Another Chance at Life

Hello!

I'm posting this chapter a little earlier than I thought I would, but since today marks exactly two months until the Klaroline reunion, I wanted to share a new chapter to celebrate! Also, we're really close to 25,000 views on this story, so I hoped that updating again would help push us over the edge!

Thank you very much to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited my two Valentine's Day writing endeavors, _Give Me Love Like Her_ and _with whom you leave your heart_. One reader even reposted a section from _Give Me Love Like Her_ on Twitter, congratulating me for nailing the definition of Klaroline, so I'm especially proud of that story. You can reach both stories by clicking on my username at the top of the page, which will take you to my profile. If you haven't read/reviewed them yet, I would love if you would do that now, or after you finish reading this chapter, or later today, or tomorrow. Whenever you have time. Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who left a review on the last chapter! I loved writing the chapter and so I was looking forward to reading your reactions to it! I'm happy that you all seemed happy with the Klaus and Caroline heart-to-heart last chapter and that they are finally together! Thank you for the kind words a lot of you included in your reviews—more than one of you said that the chapter was the best Valentine's Day gift you received, which was very sweet of you to say.

One review actually predicted how I've wanted the story to end since I started writing it! I am constantly impressed by the cleverness and perceptiveness of my readers! Although, it couldn't have been that hard to figure out, since you all must know by now that I'm a hopeless romantic who loves happy endings and stories that come full circle. That's more than enough hints for now, we aren't even halfway through the story yet!

A reviewer on the last chapter said that it was their 'fantasy' for Klaus and Caroline to have a child together, and if anyone had asked earlier, I would have said that I didn't feel comfortable messing with nature that much, but since this chapter is pretty much entirely me messing with nature, and it was Valentine's Day, and I do like to grant readers' wishes whenever I can, I decided to consider the idea. And now I'm obsessed and can't stop thinking about it.

So, the last chapter was the end of the 'will-they-or-won't-they' section of the story, but it wasn't the end of the story! I personally prefer stories in which the entire plot isn't completely wrapped up in whether or not Klaus and Caroline will get together, because I like seeing them in a relationship, and I love seeing them work together to resolve a larger conflict. I also think that it's super unrealistic for Klaus's life to suddenly be calm, happy, and conflict-free while he's working out his feelings for Caroline and while he's in a relationship with her.

The first hints of the content of this chapter were first mentioned in chapter eleven, and I really hope that this chapter helps the story move cohesively from romantic conflict to large-scale supernatural conflict.

I tried to keep this chapter shorter (as opposed to the last one, which was over ten thousand words because I'm a crazy long-winded little person) and focused, to limit the confusion, but if there's anything you're unsure of, please do not hesitate to ask for clarification in your review, or leave me a message here or on tumblr so that I can answer your questions and/or address your concerns.

Josie is the twin who takes center stage this chapter, as many of you have requested. And the same reviewer who predicted the end of the story wanted to see a scene in which Josie uses her magic and is more advanced than her twin (and Hope, who Hayley practically forbids from using magic ever, and I don't think it's just for her own safety, at least in my story), and now I'm concerned that she can actually read my mind because that's exactly what happens in this chapter. To answer your questions, you find out who gets resurrected this chapter (partly) and next chapter, and you find out what happens to Alaric next chapter.

In terms of characterization of the twins from the show, the scene that I find most memorable (and one that a lot of my characterization of the twins is inspired by) is the scene when Lizzie is reaching for her cup and accidentally uses her siphon powers on Caroline, and Josie gets quite aggravated with her, which leads me to believe that even from such a young age, Josie has a better, more mature understanding than her twin of what their powers can do and how important it is for them to learn how to use them properly. So it makes sense to me that Josie would have a stronger grasp on her magical abilities than Lizzie, as well as being more comfortable using her magic, which you'll see in this chapter.

I think that's all I have to say, so on with the chapter!

* * *

"I've been consulting with the spirits."

"Oh, Bonnie," Caroline sighed in response to Bonnie's ominous announcement.

Bonnie continued as if Caroline hadn't spoken.

"I first contacted them during my vacation, and then again when I got here, but I didn't receive a definitive answer until today," Bonnie added cryptically.

"A definitive answer about what?" Caroline asked nervously.

"I'll tell you when everyone else gets downstairs, so I can answer everyone's questions at once," Bonnie promised.

Caroline and Bonnie were the only ones in the kitchen at the early hour of the morning, Bonnie having apparently been awake talking with the spirits, and Caroline had become a habitually early riser since the twins were born.

"Just tell me, is it life-changing, what they told you?" Caroline asked.

Bonnie nodded.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Caroline said, to assure herself just as much as to assure Bonnie.

"Well, well, well, look who finally made it downstairs," Kol teased as he and Rebekah entered the room, both already dressed for the day in similar outfits consisting of black jeans and dark grey shirts. The similarities stopped with their facial expressions: Rebekah wore a supportive smile, while Kol had a mischievous smirk.

Caroline blushed.

After she and Klaus had finally confessed their love for each other, they'd spent most of the weekend holed up in his room. Every time Caroline would say anything about feeling guilty for ignoring the girls, Klaus reminded her that they had two aunts and two uncles, plus Hayley and Bonnie, to take care of them, and Caroline would be so overwhelmed by Klaus calling his siblings the twins' family that it had been easy for Klaus to distract her from her guilt.

"I would be disgusted with you, but your absence over the past couple of days has given me more time with my darling nieces, so I've forgiven you," Rebekah said.

"Thank you for watching them, Rebekah," Caroline replied, trying to sound gracious.

"I was happy to do it," Rebekah waved off her thanks. "And I'm so thrilled that Nik is happy and in love for the first time in forever—and with a girl I actually like, too—that right now you could probably convince me to take them to Disney World for a week so that you could have the house to yourselves."

"We just might take you up on that," Klaus said as he stepped through the doorway.

Caroline smiled at the sight of him. She'd come to accept over the past few days that she would probably always feel overwhelmed by how much she loved Klaus, and by how much he loved her in return.

Klaus pulled Caroline out of her seat at the table, sat down in the chair she had been occupying, then carefully placed her on his lap, wrapping his arms around her.

"Good morning, my love," he greeted her quietly, kissing her softly.

"Good morning," Caroline replied.

Tearing her eyes away from Klaus, Caroline surveyed the reactions of everyone in the room. Bonnie looked mildly uncomfortable, Kol looked like he was about to make a joke at their expense, and Rebekah practically had hearts shining in her eyes.

Elijah entered the room next, already wearing a perfectly pressed suit, and didn't even look twice at Klaus and Caroline before filling a mug with blood from a bag and sitting down at the table to read the newspaper.

The twins barreled into the room a few minutes later, offering excited hugs to Caroline and Klaus. It had clearly been Rebekah who had gotten them ready for bed the night before, since they were wearing matching nightgowns in pale pink for Lizzie and pale purple for Josie.

Freya quietly made her entrance on the twins' heels, followed shortly after by Hope and Hayley who were all also still wearing their pajamas, Hope in a baby blue nightgown that matched the twins'.

Upon seeing Klaus, Hope ran over to him, leaving Klaus and Caroline completely surrounded by their children.

Amongst the chatter, Caroline remembered her earlier conversation with Bonnie and noted that everyone had finally come downstairs.

"Bonnie, everyone's here," Caroline whispered to her friend, trying not to call attention to themselves if she wasn't ready to share yet.

"Okay," Bonnie nodded and took a deep breath.

"Um, excuse me everyone," Bonnie called out.

The room fell silent immediately.

"I have a pretty important announcement to make," Bonnie continued. "And it's going to involve a lot of magic and supernatural strength, so maybe everyone should go get ready and we can meet back here in twenty minutes or so? Because those of you who are still in your pajamas are not dressed for the kind of work we could be doing today."

{ }

Exactly twenty minutes later, Caroline found herself in the exact same position, except instead of wearing lightweight pink summer pajamas, she was now dressed in tan corduroy pants, a maroon blouse, and dark brown boots.

When the twins had come back from Mystic Falls, they'd returned with all of Caroline's clothes and most of their own. When Caroline had asked them why they'd brought them when Klaus and Rebekah had bought all three of them at least double the amount of clothing they'd left behind, they'd shrugged and mumbled something about their dad wanting them to have something he'd purchased for them. Caroline had rolled her eyes in response.

Caroline remembered noting on her first day in New Orleans that most people wore muted, dark colors. She'd repeated her observation to Klaus at one point, who confirmed that most adults only wore bright colors during Mardi Gras celebrations. As Caroline scanned the room, she saw that the Mikaelsons and their guests had certainly taken that to heart—herself in dark red, Klaus and Elijah in all black, Rebekah and Kol in dark grey, Hayley and Hope in dark green, Josie in dark blue and pale peach, Lizzie in dark brown and light pink, Freya and Bonnie in dark purple.

Everyone's dark clothing only added to the dark, tense atmosphere as they waited for Bonnie to make her announcement.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked.

A collection of nervous nods answered.

"I've been doing some research into the consequences of me destroying Hell and everyone in it," Bonnie started tentatively. "I've been in contact with the spirits since it happened, but I've only just got the final answer and the full extent of what I've done this morning."

"Is it something you need our help with?" Freya asked.

"Not exactly," Bonnie answered. "I thought that when I destroyed Hell, everyone in it would just disappear into nothingness, they just wouldn't exist anymore. But I was wrong. Instead, something sort of similar to what happened to me when The Other Side collapsed happened."

"And what was that?" Elijah asked.

"She ended up in another dimension," Caroline responded slowly. "Bonnie, are you saying everyone who was in Hell somehow ended up in other dimensions?"

Bonnie's entire plan for saving Elena and Mystic Falls had hinged on the idea that she could destroy Hell and everyone in it using hellfire. It didn't make sense to Caroline that the hellfire could have destroyed Hell but not the people in it.

"Not exactly," Bonnie replied. "They didn't get transported to an existing dimension. When I destroyed Hell, I accidentally created a new dimension, a new place for the supernatural dead to go, and everyone from Hell and everyone who would have gone to The Other Side had it not collapsed all ended up there together. The spirits call it 'The Void.'"

All of the adults at the table looked awed, except for Caroline, who started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Rebekah asked.

"Only you, Bonnie Bennett," Caroline managed to gasp out through her giggles.

Bonnie laughed too.

"I know," she said. "How come this never happens to anyone else?"

"How exactly did this happen?" Elijah asked. "It was my understanding that the hellfire you used to destroy Hell would also destroy everyone in it beyond repair or resurrection. Is it possible that Hell was not destroyed, or that the people there somehow survived?"

Bonnie shared a knowing look with Caroline. Caroline had asked Bonnie to reassure Elijah that there might be some way of bringing Katherine back to life, but she hadn't been counting on a new dimension being part of that possibility.

"The spirits are certain that I did destroy Hell, but they're equally certain that everyone in Hell survived. According to the spirits, I created what they call a dimensional rift," Bonnie explained. "Witches are all about keeping the balance of nature. In order to keep that balance, Hell needed to exist so that the balance of good and evil, living and dead, would still be even. So when I destroyed Hell, all of the dead supernatural creatures who belonged there couldn't just disappear, or the universe would be off-balance. It would be like setting up a scale, one side for good and one for evil, and then removing the evil side entirely. The scale would always be off-balance, and evil would always be weightless, because there's nothing to measure or record any evil deeds. Getting rid of the other side of the scale, or Hell, doesn't make it so that no one ever does anything evil, it just means that no one is ever held accountable for the evil things they do."

Bonnie paused for breath.

"Thus, The Void was created, to give the supernatural dead somewhere to go. Because The Other Side was for all supernatural creatures, and Hell was just for the ones who had done something evil enough to get them sent there, The Void must be divided somehow, into sections for people who would have gone to Hell, and for those who would have just gone to The Other Side. I did destroy Hell, Elijah, I just didn't know that I couldn't destroy the people in it as well. They all ended up in The Void, which is on the other side of where Hell used to be. It was like opening a package of candy onto a plate. The package is no longer intact, but the contents are, so they fall onto whatever was underneath it. Did at least most of that make sense?" Bonnie asked.

Elijah nodded, still looking slightly puzzled.

Caroline was still confused though, and looking around the room, she saw that she wasn't the only one. Klaus looked thoughtful, Rebekah looked uncertain, Kol looked suspicious, Freya looked a little lost, and Hayley looked utterly baffled.

"The incredible feat of physics aside, what exactly does this 'Void' mean for us?" Klaus asked.

"That's what the spirits were able to tell me this morning," Bonnie told them. "Because I created this dimension, I have full access to it, if I can use enough magic. And I can bring people back from it."

The room immediately fell into chaos.

Klaus was railing about enemies being able to come back from the dead, Hayley was crying over the prospect of meeting her parents, Kol wore an expression of cautious yet disbelieving optimism similar to Elijah's, Rebekah and Freya looked worried, and all three children looked as confused as Caroline felt.

"How can you access this dimension?" Klaus asked matter-of-factly. "Lowering the Veil to The Other Side required three sacrifices. What does accessing this dimension require from you?"

"My blood," Bonnie answered. "The spirits helped me to create the spell that would allow me to send myself or someone else into The Void. It's a very specific spell that only works for this one purpose, and because I created it, no one will know it except the people I choose to share it with. The only physical requirement to do the spell is that the person going into The Void must have my blood in their veins when they go."

"So it either has to be you, or a vampire," Rebekah concluded.

"Yes," Bonnie said. "It's probably better for one of you to go than me, though. We don't know what The Void is like, it's safer for everyone involved if the person who goes in is immortal. Plus, that way I can stay here and help with the spell to send them there."

"What preparation do you need before you can perform this spell?" Elijah asked.

"I've studied the spell thoroughly, I haven't done any intense spells for days… I'm ready now."

"Let's do it, then!" Hayley and Kol exclaimed in unison.

{ }

Everyone moved from the kitchen to a room on the first floor that Caroline had never been in before. It was minimally furnished, with just a round table in the middle of the room and a couch pushed against the far wall so that it wouldn't be in the way.

They all gathered around the table in a loose circle, with Bonnie standing in the middle, against the table. Caroline stood across from Bonnie, with Josie and Klaus on her left and Lizzie squeezing in between her and Rebekah on her right. Elijah stood on Klaus's other side, with Kol on his left, while Freya stood on Rebekah's right. Behind Bonnie, Hayley stood in front of Hope, wrapping an arm around her daughter's shoulders from behind.

"We can send someone into The Void to collect anyone who would have been on the Other Side, had it still existed at the time, or who was in Hell when I destroyed it. Anyone who was human when they died or had already moved on and was at peace won't be there. So I can't bring back Stefan, or Jenna, or your parents, Caroline, or my Grams," Bonnie explained. "It will take a lot of magic to get to The Void, since it's on the far side of where Hell used to be from this dimension, and we'll have to sustain that magic for a long time to give whoever we send enough time to find everyone we want to bring back and get them all back here. I can tell you for certain that I'm not powerful enough to do the spell all by myself."

"I'll help," Freya volunteered, stepping forward to stand next to Bonnie.

"You can't use Hope," Hayley interjected.

"Hope is more powerful than either of us, and probably more powerful than both of us together," Freya explained to Bonnie. "But her magic is so strong that it can sometimes be volatile and difficult for her to control. We can't risk Hope's magic overpowering her and leaving whoever we send stuck in another dimension."

"Do you need a third witch?" Rebekah asked.

"Between a Bennett witch and a Mikaelson witch, you should have plenty of magic, right?" Kol added.

"I couldn't say for certain," Bonnie answered. "I'm not sure exactly how much magic the spell will take, since no one's ever done it before. I would feel more comfortable with a third witch, even just as a backup, ready to step in in case something happens, or I start fading, or we need more magic than I thought. You guys don't have any witch friends who owe you a favor?" she asked hopefully.

A few of the Mikaelsons started weighing the pros and cons of asking Vincent for his help.

"Even if he agreed, I don't know if he would be powerful enough," Freya offered her expert opinion. "The witches of New Orleans practice ancestral magic. Would that work in another dimension?"

"What we really need is another Bennett or Mikaelson witch," Bonnie mused.

"I'm a witch," Josie piped up.

Everyone's eyes dropped to Josie's height. Lizzie burrowed herself more firmly between Caroline's and Rebekah's legs.

"Even if she's strong enough…" Hayley hedged.

"She's still a three-year-old girl," Elijah finished.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Josie?" Caroline asked her daughter. "You don't have to if you don't want to. We can find another way. You are so brave for volunteering to help, but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I can do it, Mommy," Josie insisted stubbornly, making most of the adults laugh. Rebekah even said, "Hello, baby Caroline," in response.

"Can she help, Bonnie?" Kol asked.

"I think so," Bonnie answered. "I mean, I'm sure that having her help would be better than just Freya and me doing the spell. We might not have another option. If Hope can't help, that leaves Josie and Lizzie, and Josie volunteered. We really just need another witch to channel in case Freya and I don't have enough power, and Josie fits the bill."

"Caroline, what do you think?" Klaus asked.

"I'm not wild about the idea of my daughter performing a never-before-used spell to bring people back from the dead, but Josie seems set on helping. And objectively, the twins' magic is probably ideal for a spell of this magnitude. It isn't as much a matter of strength or magical power with the twins," Caroline reasoned. "Since they're Siphoners, they're however strong their source of magic is. And it isn't as dangerous for them to control their magic as it would be with Hope. Hope is the source of her own very powerful magic, so she has to control it herself. The twins are more like conductors of magic: they take the magic from the source and redirect it somewhere else. While Hope has more magic at her disposal than they do, it's finite. She only has as much magic as she has, even if that amount is greater than any other witch. The twins could conceivably never run out of magic as long as they had new sources to replace the ones they've exhausted. If Josie can channel an Original, it won't matter that she's only three; it would be like having the Original Witch perform the spell."

Everyone was silent for a moment as they absorbed the information.

"Well," Kol said, crossing in front of Elijah to stand next to Josie and extending his hand. "Let's get to it then, sugar plum."

Josie grinned and placed her little hand in Kol's much larger one, then the two of them moved forward to join Bonnie and Freya.

"Now that we have the witches assembled, the next question is: who are sending into The Void?" Bonnie asked.

"I will go," Elijah announced. "Just tell me who you would like me to find."

"Davina," Kol blurted out immediately.

"I need you to bring back my parents," Hayley demanded, then in a softer tone, she added, "And if you can find Jackson, you should bring him back, too. It wasn't fair what happened to him."

Elijah nodded stiffly.

"Anyone else?" he asked.

"If you can find him without getting too close to Mother, perhaps you would consider bringing back our brother Finn," Klaus suggested, as if he didn't particularly care one way or another.

Elijah looked at everyone in the circle who hadn't already asked him to bring someone back in turn, prompting them to speak up if they wanted anyone returned from the dead.

"Rebekah?" he asked.

"Nik would just kill them again," she answered with a slight laugh.

"Caroline?"

"I'm an only child, and my parents were human when they died," Caroline said. She squeezed Klaus's and Lizzie's hands and glanced around the room at everyone assembled there. "I've already got everyone I need."

"Freya?"

"All of my many friends are still among the living, thank you very much,"

Everyone giggled at Freya's flippant response, even the three children.

"Bonnie?"

"Um, you've never met him, but if you could find my boyfriend Enzo, I'd really appreciate it," Bonnie answered shyly. "I've been able to feel his presence since he died, so I know that his spirit is still lingering and he hasn't moved on and found peace. I can't feel him right now, but that doesn't mean that he isn't here observing us, so he might already know that you're coming."

Elijah nodded once.

"So let me just make sure that I have everything straight," Elijah said. "I am looking for Davina, Hayley's parents, Jackson, Finn, Enzo, and Katerina. Is that all?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"We have been alive for over one thousand years, and yet when asked if there is anyone that we would like to bring back from the dead, we each only choose one person, if any at all?" Elijah asked, only somewhat rhetorically.

"No one ever accused us of being sentimental," Klaus said.

"What happens now?" Elijah asked Bonnie.

"You need to drink my blood," Bonnie answered, offering Elijah her left wrist, then closing her eyes and turning her head away.

As gently as he could, Elijah bit into Bonnie's wrist and drank her blood for a moment.

"That should be enough," Bonnie said, pulling her bloody wrist away. "My blood should stay in your system for at least twelve hours. If it really takes that long to bring everyone back, I should be able to force feed you more of my blood from here, which should give you more time."

"I understand," Elijah said.

"Then just give us a second to get ourselves in order, and we'll be ready to go," Bonnie said. "Freya, Josie, Kol?"

Bonnie offered her left hand to Freya, and her right to Josie, whose other hand was in Kol's.

"Rebekah, Klaus, are you two prepared to take over for Kol if he needs a break or if Josie needs to channel more power than one Original has?" Bonnie asked.

Klaus nodded.

"I can do it," Rebekah agreed.

"Care, Hayley, I don't know if you want the girls to be here if they don't have to be…" Bonnie trailed off.

"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Hayley feigned offense.

"You might need a cheerleader!" Caroline insisted. "And I trust you with the girls, Bon, I really do, but I'm not letting Josie out of my sight while this is going on."

"It's your choice," Bonnie shrugged.

"Elijah, whenever you're ready, lie down in front of me and close your eyes. When you're comfortable, let us know, and we'll start the spell," she said.

Elijah laid down with his head at Bonnie's feet, the image of him lying on the floor in his suit making Caroline want to laugh.

"I'm ready to start whenever you are," Elijah said.

Bonnie tightened her grip on Freya's and Josie's hands and started chanting. Once they learned the words, Freya and Josie started chanting along with her.

Caroline's eyes were locked on her daughter, whose tiny face was screwed up in concentration, her eyes closed. She'd acted so blasé about the twins using magic before, but even though she knew that there was only a microscopic chance of anything happening to Josie while she channeled Kol, she was still nervous and fraught with worry.

"Josie will be fine," Klaus assured her, seeming to read her mind as he was so often able to do.

"How do you know?" Caroline asked in a whisper.

"Because I will ensure it," Klaus answered with a small smile. "I'm watching her like a hawk, and if I so much as see her start to sway on her feet, I'm grabbing her and pulling her out of this whole thing. If Freya and Bonnie can't finish up the spell on their own, then it won't happen. No dead relative or significant other is worth any of us still living dying for them."

"What if Freya and Bonnie aren't powerful enough and Elijah might get stuck in The Void?" Caroline worried.

"Elijah is strong, he can survive anywhere," Klaus answered. "But if it's necessary, I'm sure we can persuade Lizzie to channel me or Rebekah for enough time to get Elijah back. Or Hope can step in. Yes, her magic is strong and powerful and difficult for her to control, but she'll never learn how to control it if she never uses her magic."

"You have all the answers over there, don't you?" Caroline remarked.

"I've been around a long time, my love, I know a lot," Klaus responded.

"I trust you," Caroline told him, leaning up against him as he put his arm around her waist, his hand landing on Lizzie's shoulder.

"We just have to wait," Klaus said. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

{ }

Caroline wasn't exactly sure what to do with herself while Bonnie, Freya, and Josie were performing the spell. She couldn't talk to them, since they needed to concentrate, but she didn't want to leave them all alone either.

Of the eleven people in the room, five of them were somehow involved with the spell. One of them was in a completely different dimension of her best friend's making.

Despite Bonnie's thorough explanation, Caroline was still confused and amazed by the fact that her friend had created a new dimension. She could picture what The Other Side had looked like, she could even imagine what Hell had looked like, but The Void sounded ominous and empty, like a vast blankness that stretched on forever.

She reflected on what Bonnie had said about some people they knew, like Stefan, Jenna, and her parents, who were at peace, and therefore not in The Void. She was glad that her parents had found peace in death, but she was still a little sad that she would never get to see them again. She also found it odd that Stefan was at peace, considering all of the death and torment he'd caused during his Ripper phases. If someone like him was able to find peace, why shouldn't someone like Finn, who'd hated drinking blood to survive and had been locked in a coffin for hundreds of years?

And then there was Katherine. While the doppelganger had killed her, Caroline no longer resented her for it because she was better off as a vampire. Caroline had to admire the way that Katherine always survived and always ended up on top. She always managed to be exactly where she needed to be and stay one step ahead of practically everyone else.

Her latest feat, in true Katherine Pierce fashion, had allowed her to survive the destruction of Hell. Caroline laughed inwardly. Katherine would probably return from The Void in a skintight designer outfit, her nails manicured and her hair perfectly curled. Caroline expected no less from Katherine.

Katherine's reappearance also meant that Stefan had sacrificed himself for nothing. He'd been willing to sacrifice his own life to save Damon from having to give up his life in order to kill the person who had plotted to kill Elena, in retaliation for… something. Caroline couldn't even keep up with all of the moves in the Katherine versus Elena and the Salvatores chess game. She just hoped that the cycle of violence would end now.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Klaus asked.

"Katherine didn't die when Bonnie destroyed Hell," Caroline answered. "Stefan specifically made sure that Katherine would be in Hell so that she would be destroyed along with it, and it cost him his life. Katherine wasn't destroyed, which means Stefan died for nothing."

Klaus went silent.

"Does that upset you?" he finally asked after a tense pause.

"Not really," Caroline said hesitantly. "I mean, I already came to terms with his decision, and if it wasn't that, it would have been something else. Stefan would still have sacrificed himself to protect Damon and Elena. And he was still able to stop Elena from being killed with the hellfire, so I think it would be enough for him to have saved her."

Klaus hummed in agreement, but Caroline could tell that the topic of Stefan was still weighing on his mind.

"Do I need to remind you that I left Stefan before this happened?" Caroline asked. "The wedding was just the last straw. I didn't want to be with someone who treated me like I was the last thing on his priority list. Yes, it was hurtful to think that even if I'd gone through with the wedding and married him, he probably still would have sacrificed himself to save Damon and Elena. I would have been his wife for only a few hours before he threw away our entire future together so that Damon and Elena could have theirs. I think that it was always Stefan's fate to sacrifice me and our relationship for Damon and his relationship with Elena. He's at peace now, and I think that's the best thing for him. He'll never have to know that Katherine is here. Stefan gets to save the day for his brother and finally be at peace, Katherine gets to live, and I get to be with you, which makes me the real winner here."

"As much as I can't even fathom anyone treating you as any less than the queen you are, I suppose I am quite fortunate that Stefan treated you so abysmally that you sought me out instead," Klaus admitted.

"You treat me like a queen, and that's all that matters to me," Caroline answered. "And to Lizzie, because if I'm a queen that makes her a princess."

Klaus smiled down at Lizzie, who smiled and brought her hand that wasn't in Caroline's up to where Klaus's hand sat on her shoulder, wrapping her hand around his pointer finger.

"Are you sure you're all right with Katherine being here?" Klaus asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Caroline answered. "It turns out she did me a favor by killing me and turning me into a vampire. We were even sort of friends for a while when she was in Elena's body. Plus it will be nice to see Elijah lighten up a little, and it will be fun to see her and Rebekah spar. I think there's a place for her here, just like there's a place for everyone we want to bring back. You should get excited, your family is growing today," Caroline smiled.

"How wonderful," Klaus deadpanned.

{ }

After seven hours and twenty-four minutes of chanting, waiting and worrying, punctuated by two snack breaks and three bathroom breaks for Lizzie and Hope, Elijah finally sputtered back to consciousness.

During those seven long hours, not much had changed, at least for the observers. Every once in a while Elijah had twitched a little on the floor. Caroline had brought in a box of tissues, and Freya had to use her free hand to wipe up Bonnie's bloody nose for her a few times, since Bonnie didn't have a free hand to do it herself. Kol would occasionally brush Josie's hair back when it fell in her face.

But for the most part, all five of them had remained in place for the last seven hours. Even as Hayley and Hope left the room to go get a snack and returned, and Rebekah and Lizzie left the room to retrieve some toys to play with and returned, and Klaus had run upstairs to his art studio and returned with markers and paper for the girls to draw, Bonnie, Freya, Josie, Kol, and Elijah had remained still.

Bonnie, Freya, and Josie kept chanting, even as Elijah's eyes blinked open. At first, Caroline thought that it was because their eyes were closed and so they couldn't see that Elijah had returned.

She realized her first impression was wrong when a figure started to materialize out of thin air.

Caroline gasped, drawing everyone's attention to her.

"Look!" she said, pointing to the still-unclear figure developing in front of her.

As she spoke, another figure appeared, this one nearer to where Hayley was standing with Hope.

The figures weren't solid at first. They were almost like projections of a silhouette, making it impossible to see who the person appearing was. Gradually, what once was a projection solidified into a shadow, and then finally became a real person. It only took a few minutes for the figures to develop enough that it was obvious who the person was, and not much longer after that for them to complete the process.

About ten minutes later, there were four newly resurrected people in the room. They seemed disoriented and uncertain of where they were and what they were doing there. Caroline couldn't quite tell yet if they were unable to move and speak or if they were just too shocked to do so.

The witches kept chanting, waiting for the other people who Elijah had been sent to bring back to appear. Caroline wondered how long they would keep going, and when they would give up and assume that the others hadn't made it back for some reason.

Nothing happened for ten more minutes, then Josie, her hand still tightly gripping Kol's, started to shake. Someone who hadn't been watching her carefully wouldn't have noticed the tremor that had gone through her, and anyone who hadn't been watching her carefully for signs of magical fatigue would had chalked it up to a shiver from the cold, but Klaus and Caroline were watching her carefully for a sign such as that.

Klaus rushed forward and pulled Josie away from his younger brother, gathering her up in his arms.

"We're finished here," he announced as Bonnie and Freya opened their eyes, obviously feeling disoriented. "Everyone else couldn't come back. I don't know why that is, but I know that I'm not risking anyone of us joining them in the land of the dead to find out."

"I can do it," Josie tried to insist, but the weakness of her voice gave away her exhaustion.

Klaus stood next to Caroline, allowing her to look Josie over and make sure she was okay. She wasn't bleeding from her nose like Bonnie often did when doing powerful spells, and aside from looking a little pale and tired, Josie looked otherwise perfectly healthy.

Even though Josie insisted she was fine, Caroline still examined her thoroughly, even asking her to say the alphabet backwards like her mother would do to suspects she pulled over for drunk driving.

Once Josie passed the test, Caroline pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her hair and telling her how proud she was of her. After a minute, Josie squirmed and complained of being squished, forcing Caroline to reluctantly loosen her grip.

Caroline marveled at her daughter, finding it staggeringly incredible that her little girl, now comfortably relaxing in Klaus's arms, had helped bring four people back from the dead. Josie was only three years old, but she'd seen people she cared about in need, and so she'd stepped up to fill that need. While the Mikaelsons, as well as her friends in Mystic Falls, often commented about how much Lizzie was like Caroline, with their similar romantic, optimistic natures, Caroline recognized that particular trait as one Josie must have learned from her.

Caroline looked over at Kol as well, who had immediately sped across the room after Klaus. He'd wobbled a little when Klaus had torn Josie away from him, showing that Josie had taken a significant amount of his magical power. He stood in front of Klaus, forming a tightly packed triangle between himself, Klaus, and Caroline, with Josie in the middle of the three of them, and reached out to wrap an arm around the little girl.

"You did good, Josie Posy," Kol praised Josie quietly. "You are a remarkable little witch."

Josie smiled contentedly and leaned into Kol's touch, still facing Caroline in Klaus's hold.

Relatively reassured that Josie was no worse for wear, Caroline surveyed the room and the four new people in it.

Where she had imagined tearful, emotional reunions, instead everyone was silent, scanning the room to see who had made it and who hadn't.

The tears would come in a moment, Caroline decided, once the shock wore off.

The figure who had materialized in front of Caroline grinned, looking down at Lizzie, still clutching her mother's leg, then to Josie, balanced between Caroline, Klaus, and Kol.

"Aren't you going to give Auntie Kat a hug?" she asked.

* * *

So…? That last line was actually the first line that I wrote for this chapter. I'm pretty sure you all can figure out who the other three who made it back to life are (the characters figure out who was revived and why the others weren't in the next chapter, so if you're unsure, please just have a little patience!) so I'd like to know what you think of them being part of the story. Let me know in your review please! And if anyone is unsure as to why I brought back certain characters, let me know and I will happily explain my reasoning in next chapter's author's note.

I think we've all spent enough time in the supernatural world to know by now that this action will have consequences… Are you nervous about a past villain making their way back to the land of the living? Is there anyone you're particularly worried about appearing? Anyone you'd be interested in seeing again, or a villain from _The Originals_ you want Caroline to meet? Remember, the only ones who can come back are supernatural creatures (and I've decided I want a witch to be this story's villain, so no vampire or werewolf enemies will be returning) who died after the Other Side collapsed. Please let me know what you think!

And again, if there was anything about this chapter that you found confusing or didn't understand, please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have in a review or a message here or on my tumblr (my URL there is that same as my username here), so that I can answer your questions and address your concerns. This whole alternate dimensions thing is complicated.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and I hope you leave a review because I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole and/or this resurrection storyline and/or where you think the story is going now that characters are coming back to life.

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	16. Chapter XVI: The Pieces Fall into Place

Hello wonderful readers!

Thank you very much for all of the reviews on the last chapter! There was some serious discourse and a variety of opinions in your responses, and I love seeing how engaged you are with the story!

Thank you for all of your responses regarding the baby plot! Many of you were in favor of the idea, so I think it's going to happen, but not for a while, we still have a lot of story to go before it can happen! Within twenty-four hours of each other, I received one review asking for the baby to be a girl, and one review asking for the baby to be a boy, and now I feel awful that I can't make everyone happy with my choice. When I told you last chapter that I was already picturing the baby in my head, that did include the baby's gender, which I chose specifically because of a criticism of _The Originals_ that I've seen multiple times. Also, thank you Artemis for including the analysis you found regarding the gender of male protagonists' children on television in your review; I hadn't thought to consider a larger pattern like that, I guess with the magic required to create this situation and him being the only Original Hybrid, I consider Klaus to be in a category of his own!

Only a few of you mentioned characters that you either wanted to see return, or wanted not to return. A reviewer suggested Genevieve or Davina, and another suggested Esther, as the story's witch villain. I think because of her relationship with Kol (and other relationships of different types that you'll see starting this chapter), Davina is going to be on Team Mikaelson. So please don't stress yourselves out reading everything Davina says or does as insincere or treacherous—she's being genuine, so just take it at face value. As for how the villain gets back, if you reread chapter fifteen carefully, you'll see that I've already given you a hint(: Also, more than one of you mentioned Aurora (the TO character, not Lizzie's favorite Disney princess) in your reviews, even though Aurora isn't dead, so she can't come back from the dead. There were also some mixed opinions regarding Camille: some of you want her to come back and some of you don't. I've come up with a course of action that I hope will give both parties at least part of what they want.

One reviewer said that they were irritated that Caroline allowed Josie to participate in this spell, so first off, I'm sorry you didn't like it! I was wary about including Josie at first, so to reassure myself as well as readers, I tried to make clear that it was very, very unlikely that Josie would be in danger, and in the unlikely event that she was, she could be taken out of harm's way very quickly. Josie just there as back-up, and Bonnie was taking as little of Josie's magic as she could to power the spell, but Bonnie and Freya were doing most of the work. I also tried to convey that they didn't really have any better options available to them on such short notice, since they were worried that the New Orleans witches' ancestral magic wouldn't be able to work in another dimension. And, Klaus and Caroline were both watching Josie closely for any signs of weakness or exhaustion, and were both ready to end Josie's involvement in the spell at the slightest hint that she was tired or losing control or in need of rest. To those of you who said that you did like the scene, I appreciate your support and I'm glad you liked it!

Someone also asked for Caroline, Katherine, Rebekah, and Freya to be friends, and I just finished writing a three-thousand-word scene in which the four of them bond for a future chapter earlier that day. Am I really that predictable, or are my readers physic? In all seriousness though, your insights and suggestions have helped to guide this story, so I really appreciate you adding those in your reviews. On a sort of related note, I found a glaring continuity black hole while planning for a future event in the story, so I wanted to apologize for that, but I don't want to mention what it is in case you hadn't noticed and I was the only one worrying about it, so I'll just say that I'm sorry that something of some importance just disappeared without a trace.

This chapter is approximately one-quarter answering important questions and approximately three-quarters me writing cute things I wanted to see and major wish fulfillment on my part. This whole chapter is just really cute and I loved writing it.

A couple of things related to the twins that are mentioned/referenced in this chapter: I don't think it's ever confirmed on the show, but I've always assumed that Josie was the elder of the twins (because Alaric introduces her to Caroline first, and he must have named her first), and for all three girls, I'm using the birthdays listed on their pages on the official fan site for the show, so the twins' birthday is March 15th (I'm already planning to update a chapter that day as a birthday gift on their behalf) and Hope's is May 2nd (which makes no sense but I don't have any better information to go on, and I think it's fitting that Hope is a Taurus).

Okay, I will let you read the chapter now.

* * *

Lizzie looked up at Caroline, unsure of what to do or say to the new person in the room.

Rebekah immediately scooped Lizzie up and settled her on her hip, leaving Caroline standing between two Originals carrying her daughters.

Katherine shifted her gaze from Lizzie to Josie, still being held by Klaus and with Kol's arm still around her protectively, then across the room to Hope, standing at Hayley's side.

Caroline glanced around the room as well, wanting to see who else had made it back from The Void.

Of the three other newly-revived people there, Caroline only recognized one of them: Finn Mikaelson, who she'd met briefly during the ball that the Mikaelsons had thrown.

A pretty, waif-like girl with brown curly hair parted neatly down the center and wide eyes that looked grey in some lights and a muted green in others, wearing a simple khaki-green cotton dress, had appeared near Freya and Bonnie.

A tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired man wearing a green and black flannel shirt and worn jeans was standing next to Hayley and Hope.

As she'd thought would happen, the room had fallen into chaos. Bonnie and Freya had both sunk to the floor, trying to regain their strength. Hayley seemed to be crying and yelling incoherently, though Caroline could occasionally hear the word why being thrown angrily toward Elijah. The man next to her, who Caroline assumed was Jackson, tried to reach out and comfort her, but she wasn't having it. Hope looked confused, like she was trying to remember where she knew the man from, and she was leaning away from her mother, unnerved by Hayley's anger. Finn was standing in the corner by himself, visibly shaken and disoriented. Only Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah remained calm and stoic.

Katherine, who smiled, seeming to enjoy the chaos, turned back to Lizzie, who was hiding her face in Rebekah's long blonde hair.

"Looks like you finally got the pretty little blonde daughter you always wanted, Rebekah. It would at least be courteous to let her mother know before you steal her," Katherine taunted Rebekah. "There's no need to be scared of Auntie Kat, Goldilocks. I'm not going to hurt you," she told Lizzie, who cautiously poked her head out from under Rebekah's hair, less frightened of Katherine after she'd used the nickname that Kol affectionately called her.

Katherine took a step to the side so that she was standing in front of Josie, who still looked more wary of Katherine than her twin. Caroline didn't blame either of the girls for being scared of Katherine, who, as Caroline had predicted, had returned to the land of the living wearing black leather pants, black high heels, a black shirt that laced up the front, and a black leather jacket. To them, she probably looked like a cartoon villain from their Disney movies.

"What I want to know, is why Little Red Riding Hood over there isn't with her daddy, the Big Bad Wolf," Katherine continued. "You can't dump your own kid in favor of your girlfriends' just because you wish she was the mother of your child instead of the one you actually have."

Klaus handed Josie over to Kol, and Elijah stepped forward, ready to intervene if there was an altercation between Klaus and Katherine.

"Although, looking at them now, I think a stranger could be forgiven for thinking they were Mikaelsons," Katherine said, gesturing to Josie with Kol and Lizzie with Rebekah.

"Katerina, I agreed to end my quest for vengeance against you years ago, but if you do anything that risks the safety and happiness of my family—and Caroline and her daughters are part of this family—I will not hesitate to send you straight back to Hell where you belong," Klaus threatened.

"Relax, Klaus, I would never hurt your precious Caroline. She's the reason you 'ended your quest for vengeance against me.'" Katherine retorted, examining her nail polish.

"What happened? Where am I?" a voice Caroline didn't recognize asked.

"Davina!" Kol called out, rushing over to her, still carrying Josie.

Kol wrapped her up in a tight hug, squeezing Josie between them. Davina, to her credit, didn't withdraw, and hugged Josie as well as Kol.

"You're in New Orleans, darling. We were able to bring you back to life," Kol explained.

"How?" Davina asked.

"Bonnie, Freya, and Josie were able to send Elijah to the dimension where you were and bring you back," Kol explained.

The explanation for what happened sounded impossible, so Caroline didn't blame Davina for being confused. In fact, she was more suspicious of the other three, who seemed to have accepted that they were now alive again without question.

Davina finally looked away from Kol and surveyed the room, taking note of all of the people she didn't recognize, including the little girl in Kol's arms.

"Perhaps we should make introductions for the new arrivals who don't know our friends from Mystic Falls?" Elijah suggested.

"That is Bonnie Bennett, a witch and the creator of the dimension you were that Elijah brought you back from, as well as the mastermind behind the spell that allowed Elijah to bring you back from it," Rebekah introduced, pointing to Bonnie, who nodded. "That is Caroline Forbes, she's a vampire, and she saved my siblings and me," Rebekah pointed to Caroline, who waved at the newcomers. "This is her daughter Lizzie," Rebekah gestured to the little girl she was holding. "And that's Lizzie's twin Josie with Kol," Rebekah pointed to the other twin in her brother's arms. "The twins are siphoners; they're witches who can use the magic from another magical source—or creature—to power their spells."

Rebekah then introduced the people who had just been revived to everyone in the room who may not know them.

"That's Davina Claire, she's a witch, and a powerful ally when she's on our side, which I'm hoping she will be since we're responsible for bringing her back to life, Rebekah said, pointing to the girl next to Kol. "That's Jackson Kenner, he's a werewolf, he's the other leader of Hayley's pack, and because he and Hayley are married, their whole pack has hybrid powers," Rebekah pointed to the man standing with Hayley and Hope. "I think everyone here knows our brother Finn, and that is Katherine Pierce, doppelganger turned vampire turned human again and person who sends this family into a tailspin every time she shows up."

"Elijah, why could we only bring these four back?" Freya asked. "Did we not have enough power? Did we not give you enough time?"

"The other people I was asked to find, Hayley's parents and Bonnie's boyfriend, weren't in The Void," Elijah explained. "The Void only holds those who were in Hell or who would have been on the Other Side prior to its collapse. Everyone who was on the Other Side when it collapsed, like Hayley's parents, who were werewolves, disappeared along with it. And Enzo was not in The Void either; I assume because you could interact with him in some fashion, he must still be anchored to this plane somehow, or else there is another explanation that I cannot think of. I am sorry that I could not retrieve all of the people who we wanted to bring back."

"You did what you could, and we appreciate it," Bonnie replied.

"So, um, not to get too personal, or anything, but when people come back from The Void, do they come back as whatever species they died as, or do they come back human?" Caroline asked, taking Lizzie from Rebekah.

Everyone watched as the four resuscitated supernatural creatures determined what species they were. Katherine put her hand to her neck to check her pulse. Davina lit a few candles that were left on the table. Finn reluctantly allowed the veins under his eyes to show. Jackson bared a mouth full of fangs.

"I'm still a witch," Davina confirmed.

"I'm still a vampire," Finn lamented.

"I'm still a werewolf, and I still have hybrid powers," Jackson announced.

"I'm human," Katherine said. "But not like I was when I died. I'm not old. I feel healthy."

"That can easily be remedied," Klaus grumbled under his breath.

"Be nice!" Caroline scolded in a whisper.

"Do you think you could be turned then?" Caroline asked.

"Would you like to do the honors, finally get your revenge?" Katherine asked.

"Maybe we should postpone this discussion?" Elijah proposed. "Allow everyone to get reacquainted and settled in before anyone makes any big decisions or plans?"

"They can't all stay here," Klaus insisted. "We are not taking in every stray dog off the street."

Katherine shot a contemptuous look at Hayley and laughed briefly, but said nothing.

"Okay, there's food in the kitchen, and blood bags, too, for those of us who need to drink blood," Caroline stepped into the role of the perfect hostess. "There should be enough available guest rooms for all of you to have your own, but there will be no judgment if you want to share with someone. Is there anything else?" Caroline asked Klaus.

"Do not frighten the children," Klaus ordered, glaring directly at Katherine.

"The children need to eat dinner, and take their baths, and then go to sleep, especially the children who helped to bring people back to life today," Caroline announced.

The twins grumbled a little at the prospect of missing any more excitement.

"Thank you for what you did today, Josie," Davina said, giving her one last hug before Kol set her down, letting her skip across the room to her mother.

It was Klaus who picked Josie up, and Klaus and Caroline brought the twins into the dining room.

Bonnie and Freya followed them, equally exhausted from the energy the spell required. Rebekah led Finn upstairs to his room, while Elijah and Kol went to help Katherine and Davina get settled in guest rooms. Hayley and Jackson decided that they wanted to take Hope with them to the bayou and let Jackson's grandmother Mary know that he was alive, and they would probably spend the night there.

After Caroline helped the tired twins through a sluggish, drowsy rendition of their usual bedtime routine and tucked them in to bed, she went back downstairs, intent on analyzing the day's events with the adults in the house, only to find everyone except Klaus gone. Freya and Bonnie had both gone to bed after their exhausting day, Elijah was still with Katherine, Kol was still with Davina, and Rebekah was in her room. Caroline sat back down at the table, deciding to wait and see if any of them came back downstairs.

Caroline didn't even remember falling asleep—she'd been sitting at the dining room table, and then Klaus was carrying her bridal style up the stairs to her room.

When she stirred, Klaus tried to soothe her.

"Shh," he whispered. "Go back to sleep, my love. I've got you."

She couldn't even stay awake until she was in her room.

{ }

Caroline woke up the next morning to the sound of a drill. Before she could stop to wonder why a family of thousand-year-old vampires would own power tools, her first concern was that the twins had somehow found something dangerous to play with.

She ran downstairs, trying to prepare for the worst situation two three-year-olds who had just found tools could find themselves in, when she saw that the source of the noise was a blond-haired man in a grey work shirt.

"It'll just be a few more minutes, ma'am," he told her, nodding politely.

Caroline thanked him, then hurried to the dining room, looking for someone who could explain what was happening.

"What is going on here? Why is there a stranger with power tools in the house?" Caroline asked.

"Katerina decided that we needed to have cable," Elijah sighed, while Katherine smiled proudly.

"Which we do not need," Klaus argued, giving Caroline the impression that this debate had been going on for a while.

"We most certainly do need cable," Caroline offered her opinion. "I have two three-year-olds who miss their Disney princess movies and talking animated animal shows."

Klaus looked over at Elijah.

"We're going to need to keep those two separate," Klaus told his brother.

Elijah nodded in agreement.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"So, how is everyone adjusting to being back among the living?" Caroline asked the room at large. She grabbed a peach from the fruit bowl on the counter and started eating it while she looked for the newly revived guests in the room.

The Mikaelsons' dining room had become the unofficial meeting place for everyone living in a house that was really much too large to be conducive to sharing space. Everyone had their own room, except the twins, who wouldn't know what to do with themselves if given their own space, and many had their own offices, studies, or studios as well. A thousand years' worth of paranoia meant that the Mikaelsons wouldn't meet in the courtyard for anything important, so they all gathered in the large dining room with its massive table that could seat twelve people.

At the moment, there were eight people in the room: Caroline, Klaus, Elijah, Katherine, Rebekah, Kol, Davina, and Finn.

"Considering the lack of noise we heard from Elijah's room last night, I'd say it's not going well for Katherine," Kol teased.

Katherine grimaced, Elijah crossed his arms over his chest, and Finn looked like he only narrowly avoided spitting out the water he was drinking all over the table.

"Does anyone in this house have even the most rudimentary understanding of boundaries?" Caroline asked shrilly.

"No," Klaus answered, and then, as if to demonstrate, he plucked the peach from Caroline's hand and started eating it from where she left off.

Kol shouted and laughed obnoxiously at his brother's actions.

Caroline glared at both of them.

"I already have two toddlers, I don't need any more," she lectured in her mom-voice. "My three-year-old daughters are more mature than the two of you sometimes."

"Sorry, Mom," Kol said, looking chastened but with the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

"Have you trained them to sit, and stay, and roll over, yet?" Katherine asked.

Fortunately, the impending argument was interrupted by the cable installer coming in to tell Katherine that he was finished.

Once he left, they started working on a plan for the day, which included shopping for televisions and having internet installed as well.

Elijah and Kol were planning on turning one of the spare rooms into a movie theater ("for the children," they insisted) when Caroline had an idea.

"Should we maybe tell Marcel about The Void, and us bringing people back to life?" Caroline asked hesitantly.

"Must we?" Kol complained.

"We have to work together with him, and I don't think that he would be very happy with us if he found out that we were keeping secrets from him," Caroline argued.

"Caroline's right," Rebekah chimed in. "Plus, considering how close he and Davina were, he deserves to know she's alive. If Marcel had been able to bring Finn or Kol back from the dead and didn't tell us, we would be angry with him."

"Exactly," Caroline agreed. "We should invite him over so that he can see everyone for himself."

Klaus agreed, and called Marcel to ask him to come to the house at his nearest convenience.

"He'll be here in an hour," Klaus reported when he finished the call and sat back down.

"We should call Hayley and have her, Hope, and Jackson come back," Elijah added.

Klaus called Hayley, ordered her to return with Hope and Jackson, then hung up before she could respond.

"You have her on a short leash," Katherine commented.

"Hayley knows that it is in her best interest to do exactly as I say for the foreseeable future," Klaus said. "She must face the consequences for her actions."

"What did she do to you?" Katherine asked Caroline, immediately concluding that the only reason Klaus would be so angry with Hayley was because she hurt Caroline somehow. Clearly perceptiveness was a trait that was necessary for surviving five hundred years on the run.

"She, um, told Marcel about the twins being siphoners when he offered to give the werewolves access to the city in exchange for the information," Caroline quickly explained.

"The twins are babies," Katherine stated.

"They turned three in March," Caroline answered.

"What kind of person exposes information like that about babies, in exchange for the ability for some werewolves to go into a city where they don't want to go and no one wants them to go?" Katherine asked.

"That's what I thought!" four different voices—Rebekah's, Klaus's, Kol's, and Freya's—chimed in at slightly different times.

"Are you sure you want Marcel coming here after that?" Klaus asked Caroline.

"We don't really have a choice," Caroline answered. "It's either that, or we all go over to his place. This way, we have the advantage of being on our own territory, and we don't have to go outside and risk someone else seeing them and telling Marcel before we get there. I will tell the twins that they have to stay in their room while he's here, and I'll go get them once he leaves."

Klaus nodded, appeased.

As if Caroline's words had summoned her, Lizzie skipped into the room, headed straight for Klaus. She crawled up onto Klaus's lap, while he held her in place with one arm wrapped loosely around her body, then kissed the top of her head.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Is your sister still sleeping?" he asked her.

Lizzie nodded with a sweet little smile.

Finn and Davina, who didn't have much experience seeing Klaus interact with the twins, looked confused and unnerved to see him acting so affectionate with Lizzie, and her so comfortable with him. Katherine, however, just smiled.

"She's a really cute kid, Caroline," she said. "You probably have about ten years before Klaus starts systematically killing every male who gets within a hundred feet of her."

Klaus scowled at the idea of the little girl sitting in his lap growing up and wanting to date.

"You don't need any boys, do you, my little angel?" Klaus asked Lizzie, who grinned at him and nodded. "She's going to be just as beautiful as her mother, and I had to watch while pitiful excuses for men hurt Caroline and didn't give her the love and respect she deserves, and I won't let that happen with her, too. I don't want anyone getting any ideas, or thinking that it's acceptable to not treat her like the princess she is."

"Her, and Josie, and Hope," Caroline corrected Katherine. "All three of them have him wrapped around their little fingers."

Hayley burst into the room, Hope and Jackson on her heels. All of them were wearing green shirts and blue jeans; Jackson in the green flannel he had worn the day before, Hayley in a short-sleeved button-down blouse, and Hope in square-neck shirt with a ruffled hem.

"Why were we summoned?" she asked, obviously annoyed.

"We invited Marcel over here to see our resurrected house guests, and since your husband is one of them, your presence was required," Klaus explained.

Hope approached her father, nearly pushing Lizzie off his lap in her eagerness to greet him. Because Klaus was holding her, Lizzie barely moved, but she still started crying.

"Hope," Klaus chided.

"I didn't mean to!" Hope replied.

Rebekah, trying to diffuse the situation, held her arms out.

"Auntie Bex wants a turn with her beautiful little niece," she said, sending Lizzie scrambling out of Klaus's lap and into hers, allowing Hope to sit with Klaus.

Caroline mouthed a 'thank you' to Rebekah, who smiled in return.

"Actually, I think it's time to get this one upstairs so that Marcel doesn't see her," Caroline realized, taking Lizzie from Rebekah. "I'll be right back."

{ }

Marcel arrived only a few minutes later, Vincent and Josh in tow.

"What was it you wanted me to see?" he asked when he met the Mikaelsons, Caroline, Bonnie, and Hayley in the courtyard.

They had decided to hide the new arrivals until they could explain, so that Marcel would actually hear them out.

"I don't think we've met," Marcel said to Bonnie. "I'm Marcel Gerard."

"Bonnie Bennett."

"A Bennett witch?" Marcel seemed surprised and impressed. "Is that why I'm here?"

"Sort of," Kol said.

"Bonnie recently destroyed Hell," Elijah started to explain. "In doing so, she accidentally created a new dimension, called The Void. As the creator of the dimension, she has the power to access it and bring people back from it."

"Okay…" Marcel said uneasily.

"Yesterday, Bonnie and Freya were able to send Elijah into The Void, and he was able to bring four people back with him," Rebekah continued.

It was then that the four of them joined everyone else already in the courtyard.

Marcel was clearly stunned.

"Davina!" he exclaimed, rushing forward to hug her.

After a few moments, he stepped back to survey the people standing in front of him.

"I obviously know Davina, and I recognize Finn and Jackson, but who is the fourth?" Marcel asked.

"Katherine Pierce," Caroline stated with a triumphant grin.

"But you said…" Marcel trailed off.

"I said that she turned me, which is true. I said that Klaus had been hunting her for five hundred years, which is true. I said that Elijah had been in love with her for five hundred years, which is true. I never lied," Caroline said.

"You didn't say that she was dead!" Marcel shouted.

"Did I forget to mention that? Oops, sorry," Caroline replied with an innocent smile.

Vincent seemed like he was looking for someone, and when he looked at Klaus, Klaus subtly shook his head.

"Marcel was asking you about me?" Katherine asked.

"No, Vincent asked me what I was doing in New Orleans and how I knew the Mikaelsons," Caroline answered, pausing to point out Vincent to Katherine. "You came up. I was very surprised to find that he didn't know about you, though, since you're so important to Klaus and Elijah. So I may have conveniently left out the fact that you'd died, so that they would start chasing their tails trying to find you, an apparent expert in evading and outsmarting Klaus, giving me time to rescue Klaus while they were preoccupied," she explained.

"Well played, cupcake," Katherine praised.

"Thanks!" Caroline smiled.

"So why are you telling me this?" Marcel asked. "Do you just want me to know that you outsmarted me, and that you have the power to bring people back from the dead and I don't?"

"No," Klaus answered. "We are working together now, Marcel. We do not want to keep secrets from you. This power cannot be abused, but we have no intention of flaunting it while keeping it from you."

"Are there rules?" Josh asked, speaking up for the first time. "Are there restrictions on who can come back?"

"We can't bring back anyone who died before the Other Side collapsed, or anyone who was human and would have moved on and found peace," Bonnie explained.

Josh nodded.

"We probably shouldn't do the spell again for a while anyway, since it requires so much magic," Freya added. "Bonnie and I were exhausted when we were finished."

Caroline silently thanked Freya for omitting Josie's involvement in the spell. Marcel had promised not to harm the twins, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"I understand," Marcel said. "Well, I appreciate you letting me know that you'd done this. I'm so glad you're back, Davina."

"Me, too," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"Are you going to stay here with them?" Marcel asked.

She nodded.

"Okay, just know that you're always welcome to stay with me," Marcel said.

A clearly uncomfortable Marcel, along with his accomplices, left a few minutes later.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Caroline prompted.

"Yes, Caroline, you were right, you should be very proud of yourself," Rebekah answered.

"We did the right thing, and it feels good, doesn't it?" Caroline continued.

"I had no idea what I was missing, my love," Klaus replied.

"The two of you are working together to make fun of me, aren't you?" Caroline asked.

"Yes," they both said in unison.

"I'm definitely at a disadvantage here, being an only child," Caroline lamented. "I'm going to get the twins."

A few minutes later, Caroline, Lizzie, and Josie met everyone else in the dining room so that they could finish planning out their day.

"So, what is it that you all do in between supernatural battles for control of the city or for the safety of one of your family members?" Caroline asked.

"Well, since Katerina has decided that we have to have cable, now we can watch TV while we wait for the inevitable next attack on us," Klaus responded.

"I wonder how expensive it's going to be to get TVs for the whole house," Caroline mused. "There are so many rooms."

Katherine laughed.

"She's so sweet and innocent," Katherine said. "You do realize that compulsion is a power vampires have?"

"Right," Caroline acknowledged. "Okay, well, I don't want a TV in the twins' room, they're too little and it would disrupt their sleep."

They nominated Elijah to choose the televisions for each room and compel them to be delivered and installed that day, and he decided to take Finn with him to help the withdrawn vampire readjust to his life.

Not long after they left, Hayley and Jackson tried to sneak out with Hope.

"Where do you think you're going?" Klaus asked.

Caroline, Rebekah, and Katherine laughed.

"Sorry, that was just a really fatherly thing to say," Caroline explained when Klaus glared at them.

"You can't just sneak out of my house with my daughter, Hayley," Klaus scolded.

"She's my daughter, too," Hayley argued. "She's going to her step-great-grandmother's house with her mother and her step-father. She's going to be fine."

"That isn't the point," Klaus said. "If you want to spend your time in the bayou with Jackson, and his family, and your wolf pack, that's fine, I don't care, but I need to know where Hope is at all times. I'm not saying you need to ask my permission, but you do need to tell me when you're taking Hope with you and where you're taking her."

"Fine," Hayley huffed. "The three of us are going back to Mary's. We will see you tomorrow."

"Now, was that so hard?" Klaus taunted.

Hayley just glared before leaving.

"Are they back together?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," Rebekah answered. "I mean, they were married, and then he died, so technically they're still married. But it has been years since they were together, so I'm guessing they're just taking it slow, and trying to navigate their roles in the pack and the hybrid powers. Her staying with him and helping him readjust to being alive doesn't mean that they're jumping into bed together at the first opportunity."

"Well, excuse me for not knowing what the protocol is for how to properly identify and describe the relationship between the formerly married king and queen of their wolf pack, whose marriage ended when he died, but now he's been resurrected," Caroline said flippantly.

Davina approached Caroline.

"Could I talk to Josie for a few minutes? I was really impressed by her work on the spell yesterday, and I'd like to know more about her magic, if that's all right with you? She's the reason I'm alive, I feel like the least I can do is try to understand her magic and maybe help her learn more and practice it?" she asked.

"That's fine with me," Caroline answered. "The twins love meeting other witches. You'll probably both feel more comfortable if you have Kol with you during your discussion. Kol adores Josie, now even more after they worked together to help bring you back to life."

Josie gladly followed after Davina and Kol, showing them the magic she could do. Seeing Josie leave their mother, Lizzie ran over to Klaus, who had been standing alone, observing the hubbub.

"Now there's three adult witches and three baby witches," Freya noted, walking over to them with Bonnie.

"They can each have their own mentor witch to give them individual attention and guidance, if that's how you want to arrange that," Caroline agreed. "I think Davina has claimed Josie," she added, watching the two brunette witches animatedly discuss their magic.

Katherine drifted away, not particularly interested in the logistics of the girls' magical educations.

"You know I love all three girls, but if I have to choose one to devote extra time to, it has to be my niece," Freya said apologetically. "There are additional terms and conditions that apply to being a Mikaelson witch, and she'll need my help learning them."

"You're my best friend, Care, of course I want to help your children as much as I can," Bonnie chimed in. "I wouldn't have chosen one of the twins over the other, but I'll gladly mentor Lizzie if that's what you both want. I am the only witch here who knew and loved her namesake, so this seems like a good way to honor her."

Caroline tearfully hugged her best friend.

"Thank you, Bonnie," she said. "Good luck tearing her away from Rebekah, though."

"Caroline, about what Katherine said yesterday, about me trying to steal your pretty blonde daughter from you…" Rebekah started.

"I know that's not what you're doing," Caroline said. "You love Lizzie, that's a good thing. Lizzie loves you, too. So far, it's all worked out that you love buying Lizzie pink princess dresses to wear, and she loves wearing the pink princess dresses you buy her. Eventually, she may not want to be your little doll anymore, and you'll have to accept that. But I've already talked to Klaus about various members of the family playing favorites with the twins, and I'll tell you what I told him: It doesn't seem to bother them, and until they complain, I'm not going to say anything either. I don't want them to start getting upset over it when they weren't before, just because I made them think they should be. Yes, it's really obvious that Lizzie is Rebekah's and Klaus's favorite, but it's also really obvious now that Josie is Kol and Davina's favorite, and it's really obvious that Freya and Bonnie adore them both equally and if either of you have a preference for one of them, I have no idea what it is. All of you love the twins, and the twins love all of you. That's a good thing."

"Thanks Caroline," Rebekah said. "I'm going to go steal her from Nik."

True to her word, Rebekah quickly crossed the room and grabbed Lizzie from Klaus's lap, where they proceeded to twirl around the room, showing off their best three-year-old and thousand-year-old vampire, respectively, versions of ballet steps.

Caroline glanced around the room, full of people even with members of the family missing.

"It really does take a village, doesn't it?" she asked rhetorically.

{ }

The next day, Caroline was watching all three girls as they played in the courtyard. Caroline made a mental note to ask Klaus if there was a spare room that could be dedicated as the girls' playroom, not just for their protection from any of the Mikaelsons' enemies, but from the weather during the colder months. Knowing Klaus as she did, Caroline predicted that just bringing it up would show Klaus that she was committed to the three of them living with him permanently and he would give them whatever they wanted.

That morning, Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, and Hayley had taken Katherine, Davina, Finn, and Jackson shopping for clothes and other necessities. Klaus had insisted on bringing Caroline and all three girls along with them, leaving Freya and Bonnie at home.

The girls had gotten bored watching the adults try on clothes and had dragged Klaus and Caroline into The Disney Store. Caroline would have never thought Klaus would have set foot in the store, but she was pleasantly surprised when he willingly followed the girls around as they saw different things they liked.

Lizzie found an Aurora costume and held the pink dress up to her chest, and started twirling around the store with it, pretending that she was wearing it. Josie and Hope quickly found the costumes of their favorite princesses, too, which led to Hope being upset that the Ariel costume didn't look exactly like what the character wore, and Caroline had to calm her down by telling her that her father would never let her wear what Ariel wore in _The Little Mermaid_.

It only took a few minutes for the girls to accumulate piles of things that they wanted, and Caroline was dreading having to tell the twins that they couldn't have all of it and would have to choose their very favorites and leave everything else behind.

When she tried, however, Klaus stepped in and told all three girls he would buy them everything they wanted, and that Josie should really add some more things to her pile, because it was significantly smaller than the others', which shouldn't be hard, because from what he could see, there was more stuff with Belle on it than any of the other princesses.

The girls squealed and skipped off to find more clothes and toys they wanted.

"You're going to spoil them," Caroline told Klaus.

"They deserve it," Klaus answered with a shrug.

"It isn't about deserving. Just because they deserve everything they want doesn't mean that it's good for them to just have it all handed to them. If you're always buying them everything they want, they'll never learn the importance of saving up for something they really want, or that relationships and experiences are more important than possessions," Caroline explained.

"Look at them," Klaus said, watching the three girls giggling and flitting around the store. "They're having fun together. They're happy. If buying them dresses and dolls makes them happy, then that's what I'll do."

"So I have thirteen years to talk you out of buying the twins cars for their sixteenth birthday, then?" Caroline smiled.

Klaus smiled, too, and looked like he was about to respond, when the girls ran over with all of the things they'd collected, claiming that they'd found everything they wanted.

Though he did compel the cashier not to remember them (which he said was a standard safety procedure for his family) Klaus did purchase everything the girls had picked out—including the princess costumes, the shoes, tiaras, and plastic jewelry that went along with the costumes, dolls, tee-shirts, sweatshirts, pajamas, bedding, hair ribbons, and music boxes for each girl, as well as DVDs of their favorite movies for them to watch on the new TVs.

It wasn't until they were home that Caroline realized that Klaus had looked so happy in the store because she had assumed that they would still be together over a decade in the future.

The girls had immediately changed into their princess costumes and were now playing together with their dolls. Caroline smiled at the girls dressed like their dolls; Lizzie and Josie in full tulle skirts that were wider than they were and Hope in a shimmering metallic green skirt made to look like the scales of a mermaid tail.

"I come bearing gifts for the baby witches!" Katherine's voice announced as she stepped through the gate.

Caroline laughed at the image of Katherine holding a small bag from what looked like a jewelry store while Elijah carried dozens of large bags full of clothing.

All three girls dropped their dolls and went running to meet Katherine, all of them narrowly avoiding tripping over their skirts.

Katherine glanced down at their outfits.

"They dragged Klaus into The Disney Store," Caroline explained. "He bought them each the costume of their favorite princess, as well as everything else they wanted."

"I wish I could have seen that," Katherine said. "Anyway, I have presents for you all, too. Oldest gets to go first," she said, reaching into the bag.

She pulled out a gold, oval-shaped locket with a green gemstone at the top and fastened it around Hope's neck.

"It's so pretty, and it matches my Ariel tail!" Hope exclaimed. "Thank you, Katherine!"

"You're welcome, Little Red," Katherine replied. "I'm not getting in the middle of twins fighting over who's two minutes older than the other, so I'll give both of you yours together."

Katherine pulled out two more gold, oval-shaped lockets, giving the one with the yellow gemstone to Josie and the one with the pinkish-purple stone to Lizzie.

"Thank you!" the twins chirped in unison.

"I went with Mardi Gras colors, since we're in New Orleans," Katherine said. "And since all of the necklaces match their dresses, I think I did well choosing the colors for each of them. But they're not just meant to be pretty, they're amulets. They're spelled to protect against most spells, compulsion, and possession. A couple of witches owed me a few favors, and coming back from the dead really encourages them to pay up quickly."

"Wow, thank you Katherine," Caroline said, overwhelmed by Katherine's generosity.

"After you told me what Hayley did, I felt horribly guilty for ever being in cahoots with her. Naturally, I wanted that feeling to go away as soon as possible, so I decided to do what I could to protect them," Katherine replied.

"Thank you, Katherine, I really appreciate this, and I'm sure Klaus will, too," Caroline said.

"A fringe benefit," Katherine smirked. "I have to go put all of my new clothes away, see you later."

Katherine headed up the stairs, Elijah following after her.

Hayley and Jackson returned shortly afterward. Hayley demanded to speak to Klaus, who was upstairs working in his art studio, without even looking at Hope, who had returned to playing with the twins.

Only a few minutes later, Klaus and Hayley came downstairs. Klaus was completely calm, even smug, while Hayley was angry, the kind of angry she got when she'd been outsmarted. With a final glare at Klaus, Hayley stormed out, Jackson quickly following after her.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked.

"She was irritated that I brought Hope home, 'without telling her' even though I sent her a text message when we left," Klaus answered. "She was annoyed because her entire argument, that I was being a hypocrite for demanding she tell me when she's taking Hope with her to the bayou when I don't tell Hayley when I'm taking Hope home, fell apart because she didn't hear her phone ring."

"I'm sure you two will get the hang of things," Caroline said. "You've been living in the same house, raising your daughter together, while you were single and she was in a relationship with your brother, for a long time. She was married to Jackson before and you managed to work together for Hope's sake, I'm sure you'll find a way to do that again."

"I appreciate your optimism, my love," Klaus said, kissing Caroline on the cheek. "Did I buy them those today? They don't look familiar," Klaus pointed at the girls' necklaces.

"No, they're from Katherine," Caroline told him. "Apparently a few witches owed her a favor, and she called it in to get these amulets to protect the girls from magic used against them, compulsion, and possession. She felt bad about what Hayley did to the twins and wanted to try to make up for it. It was a very nice thing for her to do. She even specifically chose Mardi Gras colors for the stones to celebrate us being in New Orleans, and she was able to guess which of those three colors would be each girl's favorite."

"I think everyone who's ever seen Lizzie can guess that her favorite color is pink," Klaus said.

"Hers is purple, but it's a shade of purple that is definitely closer to pink than blue," Caroline conceded. "Hope's is green, and Josie's is yellow. I don't know if they only work on the person they're meant for, but we should probably not treat them as though they're interchangeable, just in case."

"Whatever you say, my love," Klaus agreed, turning to watch the girls play.

{ }

Caroline decided that to celebrate the Mikaelson mansion's new high-speed internet, she and the twins would Skype Alaric instead of calling for their weekly check-in.

Alaric seemed pleased to see them, though he did look suspiciously at the girls' outfits.

"I have some news to tell you," he said.

"We have some news, too, and it isn't just that now we have internet," Caroline replied.

"You go first," Alaric said.

"When Bonnie destroyed Hell, she didn't destroy everyone in it like she thought she did," Caroline explained. "She accidentally created a new dimension for all of the supernatural dead called The Void. And because she created the dimension, she can bring people back from it. Which we did yesterday."

"You brought people back to life yesterday?" Alaric asked. "Who?"

"Finn Mikaelson, a witch named Davina, Katherine, and Hayley's husband Jackson," Caroline answered.

"You brought Katherine back after everything we went through?" Alaric was incredulous.

"Elijah brought her back because they've been in love for five hundred years, I wasn't going to interfere with that," Caroline responded.

"And did you try to bring back Jo?" he asked uncertainly.

"We couldn't have brought her back," Caroline answered. "She gave up her powers and died as a human. She wouldn't have been in The Void, she's at peace."

"Well, that's something, I guess," Alaric said.

"So, what was your news?" Caroline asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, right! I've received an opportunity to teach at Tulane!" he told them excitedly.

"Wow, that's great," Caroline offered. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Caroline," Alaric replied. "I'm really excited to start this new job, and to move to New Orleans, and to have the girls live with me again."

"What do you mean, 'have the girls live with you again?'" Caroline asked warily.

"You said that you would probably never return to Mystic Falls, but you made it sound like in New Orleans, it's more vampire-friendly, so you could stay in one place while the girls are growing up," Alaric answered.

"So how does that translate to the girls living with you and not with me?" Caroline asked. "The girls love living here with Bonnie and Hope and the rest of the Mikaelsons."

"They wouldn't live with me and not with you," Alaric responded, growing increasingly confused as Caroline wasn't figuring out what he meant. "I meant that we would all live together again, as a family, since we can do that in New Orleans but not Mystic Falls, apparently."

"Girls, can you give your dad and me a minute to talk, please?" Caroline requested.

The girls ran off to their room to play with their new toys.

"Ric, I thought we went over this when we first discussed a custody arrangement for the girls," Caroline said. "We aren't together, and we aren't a family, at least not in a 1950s sitcom kind of way. It isn't just that I'm not moving back to Mystic Falls; it's that I can't be with you just so that the girls have what they think is a happy family. I don't know if you didn't fully understand that, or if you think that I'm going to change my mind, or if you just like the idea of having live-in childcare, but I'm not going to live with you."

"Caroline," Alaric sighed dejectedly.

"And I'm glad that you are moving to be closer to the girls. I'm sure they'll be happy that they can go back and forth between their parents' houses without spending an afternoon on a plane. We will have to come up with a new custody agreement that corresponds with your new living arrangements and work hours," she continued.

"Fine," Alaric agreed. "I was just trying to do what I thought was best for the girls."

"I think this is what's best for the girls," Caroline countered. "I think that even if we could convince them that we were a happy family now while they're little, eventually they would be able to see how uncomfortable I am with the arrangement, and how much you wish that it was Jo and not me that you were raising the girls with. I think it's better to show them that not all families have a married mom and dad who love each other and live in the same house, and that it's more important for the people in their family to be happy than it is for them to all live together."

"And are you happy?" Alaric asked, and Caroline was relieved to hear that his tone sounded more like a curious friend than a jealous ex-boyfriend.

"Yes, I am happy," Caroline said. "I have the girls, I have Bonnie, I have this important, fulfilling role as the representative of the human population of New Orleans… I have a lot of good things in my life right now."

"What about the Mikaelsons? I'm sure that Klaus has forbidden them from giving you so much as a dirty look, but they do like the twins, don't they?" Alaric confirmed.

"The Mikaelsons adore the twins, and I'm sure they will be thrilled that the girls are staying here in New Orleans permanently," Caroline reassured him. "Hope sees the twins as her sisters; Rebekah, Freya, and Kol call themselves the twins' aunts and uncle; including Bonnie, there are three powerful adult witches in the house, so each of the three girls can have their own mentor to help them with their magic; all of them treat the twins and me like we're part of the family."

"And Klaus? He called me when someone revealed that the twins are siphoners. I know that he has his hybrids watching them, so I'm guessing he's protective of them?" Alaric asked.

"I didn't know about their hybrid bodyguards, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since I have four of my own," Caroline shook her head. "Klaus loves the twins like they were his own. He took all three girls on a shopping spree in The Disney Store today. Just yesterday he expressed disgust at the idea of Lizzie growing up and wanting to start dating. All three of them have him wrapped around their little fingers."

"I think you mean all four of you," Alaric corrected.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I should tell you, Klaus and I are together now," Caroline said. "He loves me, and I love him, and he loves the girls, and the girls love him, and we're all really happy."

"I'm happy you're happy," Alaric said. "I'll probably never love the guy, but I'm glad that the twins have someone who loves and protects them."

They hung up not long after, making plans to Skype again in a few days when Alaric would have more information about when he would be arriving in New Orleans.

Caroline went to see Klaus, sending the twins into the courtyard to play with Hope while Freya supervised.

Klaus was in his art studio again, so Caroline knocked before entering and was immediately told to come in.

Klaus set his paintbrush down and walked over to her.

"Alaric has been offered a job teaching at Tulane," Caroline started.

"He's moving to New Orleans to be closer to the twins," Klaus assumed.

"Yes," Caroline confirmed. "We'll have to work out a new custody agreement that will take into account Alaric's work hours and the girls not needing to take a flight to get to him, but once that's done and he gets settled here, the twins won't need to fly to Virginia and back every two weeks."

"So no more two weeks here, two weeks there; the twins live in New Orleans, permanently," Klaus confirmed.

"Yes."

Klaus wrapped his arms tightly around Caroline and spun her around in a celebratory embrace.

"All my girls are staying with me," he whispered in Caroline's ear.

"Just try to get rid of us now," Caroline whispered back, pressing her lips to his.

* * *

I know a lot of you were expecting Alaric to die, but I couldn't let the twins lose another parent! Aside from that primary reason, I also couldn't think of a realistic way to kill him off in the now supernatural-free Mystic Falls that didn't seem like I was killing him off for the sake of killing him off. Plus, the first review I received after introducing the custody arrangement storyline asked why Alaric didn't just move to New Orleans, so that's what I decided to go with. Although, if Alaric is in New Orleans, that means he'll be in the line of fire during the upcoming supernatural conflicts, so he still may not make it to the end of the story…

And if you're curious as to what the girls' lockets look like, I'm picturing the lockets from _H2O: Just Add Water_ (if you search 'h2o locket' the pictures will pop up) except they're gold instead of silver and green, yellow, and purple instead of blue, clear, and red.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	17. Chapter XVII: Long Live the Queen

Hi!

Thank you for all of the reviews on the last chapter! I will try to grant as many of your requests as I can fit into the story (an anxious, scared Klaus worrying/panicking over a hurt/missing Caroline? Certainly, at least twice more before the end. A Freya/Alaric relationship? I'm not so sure about that one. Alaric hosting a sleepover for all three little witches? I'd have to switch perspectives, but I like the idea!), and I will take your constructive criticism into account.

A lot of you were happy Katherine was revived and sad that Enzo wasn't, but Enzo wasn't in The Void because he was in another alternate dimension that Bonnie created when he died (which I read as an accident as a result of her losing control of her powers). I'm glad you liked Katherine's reappearance though!

Some concerns from your reviews that I wanted to respond to/clarify for you:

Klaus is not using the twins to replace Hope. Katherine saw Klaus holding Josie and made a snarky comment, but since she just arrived, she had no idea how much time Klaus spends with Hope or with all three girls together.

Josie is not replacing Lizzie as Klaus's favorite twin, he just knows now that Josie needs a little more attention and encouragement to come out of her shell than the other two girls do. He's trying to meet each girl's individual needs.

I'm not planning on making up my own villain. In my experience, readers either love or hate original characters, and I don't want to risk you hating them!

As I said when this came up earlier, Caroline and Alaric are going to share custody of the twins as evenly as possible. I don't think it's realistic for either character to settle for less time with the girls. And, because Caroline worries about this, I thought some readers might, too, so I wanted to reassure you: no one is going to use the fact that Caroline is not the girls' biological mother against her. Caroline being the twins' adoptive mother and not their biological mother doesn't make her any less their mother.

If there are any Hayley fans reading this story, you may want to skip this chapter. As I said when she was first introduced into the story, unlike the show, this story is not going to ignore or gloss over Hayley's less-than-fantastic traits. I tried to keep her as in character as possible without turning her into the Mary Sue we see on _The Originals_ , who is somehow willing and able to physically fight a thousand-year-old vampire/vampire hunter while approximately twelve months pregnant and is an expert in Latin while simultaneously not recognizing Latin. I don't see Hayley as the flawless warrior queen, perfect mother, saint who can do no wrong, brilliant genius, secret weapon that the show's writers portray her as, so I am not going to write her that way. Hayley can be aggressive, belligerent, stubborn, deceitful, selfish, rude, impulsive, insensitive, and single-minded—but I think that there's nothing wrong with having negative traits, so unlike the TO writers, I see no need to twist them around to make them positive and have the characters praise her for being brave, strong, tough, determined, and fighting for what she believes in and the people she cares about, instead of just accepting this part of her personality. She's also courageous, resourceful, persistent, strong-willed, protective, and tenacious, so she has positive traits that can balance out her negative ones and make her a well-rounded character, I think, given the opportunity. Also, for the record, I don't think that Hayley is stupid, I just think that she can be so focused on her own goals that she ignores cues that others are giving her, and that she lacks the empathy required to read the room, and we see that in this chapter. And compared to all of the other adults, Hayley is less educated, since according to her backstory, her adoptive parents kicked her out when she turned into a wolf in front of them, so she wouldn't have finished school.

One of my lovely regular reviewers, Jordan, who leaves me these lovely, thoughtful, detailed essays that I love reading in response to every chapter (except the last one, which worries me. When regular reviewers stop reviewing, even if just for one chapter, I worry about you!) asked for Katherine to tell Hayley off when I first proposed the idea of bringing her back to life and several times since, and I finally wrote that scene this chapter, so I hope you enjoy!

Like I told you when it was Marcel's turn, this is the last chapter that we see Hayley as an antagonist. After this, she will get to redeem herself.

All right then, happy reading!

* * *

Caroline couldn't imagine a more perfect way to wake up than wrapped snugly in Klaus's arms.

Klaus had complained when she insisted on putting pajamas on, until she reminded him that they both had young children who wouldn't outgrow running into their parents' room every time they had a nightmare for several more years. Then he reluctantly allowed her to get dressed, and had put on a plain tee-shirt and some sweatpants himself, agreeing that he did not want to scar the children for life.

Caroline's head was nestled on Klaus's shoulder, one arm curled under the arm her head was resting on and the other flung across his body, and her legs were tangled with his.

She was surprised that she'd woken up before him, not because he was a morning person and she wasn't, but because even the slightest movements had Klaus's paranoid vampire reflexes reacting.

Klaus and Caroline had started spending their nights in Caroline's room rather than Klaus's, even though Klaus's room was bigger, because Caroline wanted to still be near the twins. She would be able to hear them from anywhere in the house, but they knew that her room was the one next to theirs, and she didn't want them to not be able to find her when they needed her.

Caroline felt, rather than saw, when Klaus woke up. He shifted slightly underneath her, then started stroking her hair.

"I was just dreaming about you," Klaus said softly. "I never dream, or at least I never remember my dreams, but last night I dreamed about you."

"What about me?" Caroline asked.

"I was on trial," Klaus told her. "I had to prove myself worthy of you, which I knew from the start was a lost cause. And this judge just kept reciting lists of names of all the people that I'd hurt or killed, and I couldn't say anything in my own defense. And everyone kept looking at me, like they couldn't fathom why I was there, why I was even trying when I was so clearly unworthy. And when the judge finally got to the end of the list, he looked down his nose at me and said, 'What do you have to say for yourself?' and I just said, 'I know that Caroline is perfect and I am nothing in comparison, but I love her, with all of my heart and soul, and I will do anything, just please, please don't take her away from me,' and then everyone in the room, including the judge, started clapping, and the judge told me, 'Well, that's all you had to say, son,' and then the doors opened and you were there, running towards me, and until I woke up, I had never seen anything more beautiful than your face in that courtroom."

"I love you," Caroline told him, holding his chin so that he had to look her in the eye. "Remember, just yesterday, when you wanted to buy the girls everything they've ever wanted, because they deserve it, and I told you that it isn't about deserving? This relationship isn't about deserving either. I'm not a prize that you have to earn. This is about you loving me and me loving you, and that's it."

"You are perfect," Klaus said, kissing her quickly. "I love you."

"Speaking of the girls," Caroline started, propping herself up on her elbow so that she was looking down at him. "I think we need to talk to them about everything that's going on. Especially Hope."

"Why especially Hope?" Klaus asked, instantly concerned.

"Because she can surely tell that everyone in the house was mad at her mother, even if she doesn't know why, and she probably isn't sure if they aren't mad anymore or if they've just gotten distracted after our life-saving mission; her stepfather, uncle, and two would-be aunts if her uncles married them came back to life right in front of her; her mother keeps taking her to the bayou to be with her stepfather's family and their wolf pack; and her father has a new girlfriend who happens to be the mother of her best friends. Her life has changed so much in just a few days, and as far as I know, no one has reached out to her to explain all of these changes to her and ask her how she feels about them."

"You're right," Klaus agreed. "Let's talk to the girls together this morning, before the council meeting, and then we can talk to them individually if they want when we get back this afternoon."

"Sounds like a plan," Caroline said.

They got dressed and went downstairs, where all three girls were already in the dining room eating breakfast, along with Rebekah, Freya, Elijah, Bonnie, and Davina.

All three girls were wearing shirts that Klaus had bought them the day before: Hope's was turquoise with the silhouette of Ariel and 'Part of your world' written in script in a darker turquoise color, Josie's was yellow with the silhouette of Belle and 'Tale as old as time' written in script in darker yellow, and Lizzie's was pink with the silhouette of Aurora and 'Once upon a dream' written in script in a darker pink color.

"Look how cute, they're matching!" Caroline squealed, rushing to take pictures on her phone.

"When you're finished with the photo shoot, love, we have to talk to the girls," Klaus reminded her.

"I know," Caroline said, continuing to snap pictures.

After a few minutes, Caroline relented and allowed Klaus to lead all of them into his art studio so that they would at least have the appearance of privacy.

Klaus and Caroline sat on one of the couches, gesturing for the girls to sit on the couch facing them. As Caroline had assumed they would, the twins sat across from her, while Hope sat across from Klaus.

"We have a few things we'd like to discuss with you," Klaus started.

"The first is that we are together now," Klaus told them.

"What does that mean?" Lizzie asked, an expression of concentration on her face as she searched her memory. "Are you getting married?" she squealed excitedly.

"We're going to be sisters for real!" Hope exclaimed, reaching over Josie to grab Lizzie's hand, then feeling bad for leaving Josie out and grabbing her hand, too.

All three girls were chattering and cheering excitedly, and Caroline didn't want to disappoint them, but she couldn't lie to them either.

"No, girls, we're not getting married," Caroline corrected.

All three of their faces fell immediately.

Then came the tears.

Hope cried silently, almost stoically, the product of a mother who lived by the belief that she had to be strong, and showing emotions made you weak. Josie, bless her heart, wasn't a pretty crier, but an emotive one, with a red nose and cheeks, her eyes swollen, and strands of her dark hair wet and glued to the sides of her face as she allowed herself to be completely absorbed by her sadness.

Caroline had never met anyone who cried quite like Lizzie did. Lizzie crying was a lethal combination of huge, shiny eyes and quivering, pouting lips that ensured that anyone who witnessed the spectacle would do anything they could to get her to stop crying.

"We're not going to be sisters?" Lizzie wailed, her little face turning red as she bawled.

Considering Klaus couldn't resist catering to Lizzie's every whim when she merely smiled and said please, Caroline was already making a mental note of everything in her closet she could get married in on short notice, knowing that Klaus would never be able to deny Lizzie something she wanted if she was crying over the possibility of not getting it. She wasn't thrilled about the idea of getting married less than a week into their relationship because the girls wanted them to, but she also knew that she and Klaus had already promised each other forever, and a wedding would just be a formality for their families' sake.

"Of course you are," Klaus reassured her. "Just not right now, all right? Do you think you can be patient for your mom and me?"

Lizzie nodded, still pouting.

"There's my sweet little angel," Klaus soothed her.

"That wasn't the only thing that we wanted to talk to you about," Caroline tried to change the subject.

"We wanted to make sure that you are all okay with the new people in the house," Klaus continued.

"We like Davina, and Katherine got us these necklaces that are supposed to protect us, so we like her too," Josie said, acting as spokesperson for all three of them. "Finn doesn't talk to us much, but Elijah doesn't really either, but when he does talk to us, he's nice, so we like him."

"Mom told me all about how Jackson is my stepdad and he loves us a lot, and everything he did to protect us, and I don't really remember him from before, but he's nice and he seems like a good stepdad, I guess," Hope added.

"And are you okay with your mom taking you to the bayou to stay with him and Mary? Because it's okay if you do, but it's also okay if you prefer to stay here, with Lizzie and Josie and your aunts and uncles and all of your toys," Klaus said.

"Klaus!" Caroline scolded quietly. "You can't use your family to bribe your daughter into staying with you!"

"I like this house better than Mary's house," Hope answered.

"Well, we have a council meeting today, so your mom is going to take you to Mary's house while we're there, okay?" Caroline reminded her.

"Okay," Hope agreed.

Caroline checked the time on her phone.

"In fact, she'll probably be here any minute, so we should get downstairs. Lizzie and Josie, you're staying here with Bonnie, Kol, Finn, and Katherine. Davina wanted to come along to say hi to Marcel and Josh now that the shock of her returning from the dead has worn off," she said, answering Klaus's unasked question.

Hope was the first to skip out of the room, followed by Josie, but Lizzie lingered uncertainly.

Eventually making up her mind, she approached Caroline and flung her arms around her mother's knees.

"I love you, Mommy," she said with a sweet smile.

"I love you, too, sweetie," Caroline answered.

Lizzie went back to looking uncertain, then hugged Klaus's legs, too.

"I love you, Klaus," Lizzie said, smiling up at him just as sweetly.

"I love you, my little angel," Klaus responded, picking Lizzie up and carrying her downstairs, where he left her with her sister under Bonnie's supervision.

As they walked towards the courtyard to meet up with everyone else, Caroline turned to Klaus and grinned lovingly at him.

"They love you so much, all three of them," Caroline said. "You're their real-life Prince Charming, who loves them and would do anything for them. I'm sure Lizzie thinks that you would slay dragons for her, and Josie thinks that you would fight off a pack of wolves to save her."

"I would," Klaus answered simply, yet sincerely. "What about Hope's princess story?"

"Prince Eric never saves Ariel. She saves him. There's not really a fitting example for this situation in that movie," Caroline answered.

"I think that's the most fitting example of all, actually," Klaus disagreed.

{ }

"What is that?" Hayley's annoyed voice was the first thing they heard when they entered the courtyard where everyone was waiting.

Hayley was facing Hope, looking down at what she was wearing.

"Daddy bought us these shirts yesterday," Hope explained to her mother.

"Okay, whatever, I meant the necklace you're wearing," Hayley corrected.

"Oh, Katherine gave them to us yesterday," Hope answered cheerfully. "They're spelled to protect us, and they're Mardi Gras colors, too, since we live in New Orleans. Mine is green, Josie's is yellow, and Lizzie's is purple because that's the closest to pink."

"What are you doing giving protective spells to my daughter?" Hayley interrogated Katherine. "I can protect her just fine on my own, and even if I couldn't, she has a whole wolf pack and the Original family to protect her as well, I don't need your help."

Bonnie and the twins trailed outside after hearing Hayley yelling. Both girls scampered over to stand next to Caroline.

"Sure you can," Katherine rolled her eyes. "But I didn't get them with Hope in mind, I just have enough experience with kids to know that if you buy something for two of them, you better get another one for the third, or you will never hear the end of it."

"Which would make sense if you were getting something for one of the twins but not the other, or if all three girls were sisters, but they're not. I'm Hope's mother, I'm not the twins' mother," Hayley said. "I make the decisions when it comes to my daughter. Hope and Josie and Lizzie are not triplets, they don't have the same parents, they don't have the same family, and they won't always all get the same thing. I'm not going to not get Hope something she wants or needs because I'm not buying two more in different colors for Josie and Lizzie, too."

"I think we're all well aware of your tendency to throw Josie and Lizzie overboard when it suits your needs," Katherine said. "Therefore, I wanted to help protect them from whatever danger you might put them in. And then I decided not to leave Hope out because I do see the three children as equals, even if you think that yours is superior for some reason."

Caroline could almost hear the "That's because she is!" blaring in Hayley's mind, and she squeezed her hands into fists, angry that Hayley would really consider the twins somehow lesser than Hope. That made Hayley's betrayal hurt even more, knowing that even if she hadn't consciously decided that the twins were of less value to her than her werewolf pack while considering whether or not to provide Marcel the information he asked for in exchange for the werewolves' freedom, she hadn't just been impulsive and desperate when she'd told him about the twins' magic, she really did think that the twins were inferior to Hope, or the Mikaelsons, or the werewolves, and therefore giving up their safety, their privacy, their peace of mind was a bargain compared to what she would be gaining in return.

"Every mother thinks that their child is the greatest, most wonderful child to ever exist," Hayley reasoned. "And Hope is literally an entirely different species than the twins. She's both a witch and a werewolf, the only one of her kind. She's stronger and more powerful than the twins are, so she needs different tools and strategies to help her control her magic. Hope is Klaus's daughter, and he's a powerful guy with a lot of powerful enemies who might try to use Hope to get to him and force him to do what they want. As the miracle child born to the Original Hybrid and the Queen of the Crescent Wolf Pack, Hope is more important in the supernatural world than the daughters of an ordinary human and a dead witch, whose surrogate mother happens to be the Original Hybrid's girlfriend, and so she needs more protection than they do. The twins don't need that extra help and protection, so why should they get it just because Hope does, or why should Hope not get the help and protection she needs just because the twins don't need it?"

"I've let you ramble long enough," Katherine dismissed. "I think the answer you're actually looking for is 'Why, thank you, Katherine, for calling in a long-standing favor with some powerful witches to help protect all three girls, even though I'm a terrible person who sold out a couple of babies when it looked like it would serve my own selfish agenda.'"

"I'm not a baby," Josie whined.

"Of course you're not," Katherine agreed, picking her up. "You are a smart, kind, brave young lady; and much more mature and considerate than other people in this house," she said with a pointed glance at Hayley.

"Who do you think you are?" Hayley demanded. "Just because I got the silent treatment for a few days doesn't mean that everyone's forgotten that you were public enemy number one for five hundred years. Why do you think that you have the right to criticize me, and my choices, and how I parent my daughter?"

"Because someone has to keep your ego from becoming big enough to crush us all," Katherine said. "You think that you're so special because your daughter is so powerful, even though Hope would have been a powerful witch and a werewolf with the ability to create hybrids no matter who her mother was, because all of those abilities came from Klaus. You treating your daughter like your meal ticket, and expecting praise and devotion from everyone you meet because you were the one who gave birth to her is sick and twisted. Children aren't accomplishments, they're people, and women are worth more than just their ability to bear children. Love me or hate me, whatever opinions people have about me, they're because of me, and who I am as a person, not because I managed to get myself knocked up with a magical miracle wolf pup after a quick, meaningless roll in the hay with the Original Hybrid, who only settled for you because you were available and willing. I would always rather be a hated person than a beloved incubator."

Caroline gasped at Katherine's harsh words, while Kol looked like he was struggling not to laugh. Even as cruel as Katherine's words were, no one stepped in to defend Hayley. There were twelve people in the courtyard watching this altercation, nine of them adults, six of them vampires, and none of them intervened on her behalf.

"Katherine! There are children present!" Rebekah scolded.

"I used euphemisms," Katherine answered. "They don't know what anything I said means, and by the time they do, they'll have forgotten I said it."

None of the three children did look like they were paying close attention to what Katherine had said. Josie was inspecting a silver bracelet on Katherine's wrist. Hope had seen a blue butterfly perched on the gate and demanded her father's phone so that she could go take pictures of it. Lizzie, who hated fighting of any kind, had covered her ears and squeezed herself in between Caroline's and Klaus's legs.

Elijah stepped forward and took Katherine's arm, while Kol took Josie from her and set the little girl down next to her twin.

"That's enough, Katerina," Elijah told her. "We have a meeting to go to, Hayley still has to drop Hope off with her step-father, and you should stop this before you say something you will regret later."

Hayley smiled triumphantly, thinking that Elijah was coming to her rescue.

"I'm sure you'll have thought of new insults to hurl at Hayley by the time we get back," Elijah continued ruefully.

Katherine sighed, "Fine."

"Come along, baby witches," she called to the twins. "It's time for Auntie Kat and Uncle Kol, the two most fun babysitters you'll ever have, to watch you while your mom goes to a boring council meeting."

The obvious glee on Katherine and Kol's faces as they led the twins into the dining room worried Caroline.

"Bonnie is here to keep an eye on things, and Finn will do everything he can to make sure no one has any fun," Klaus reassured her after seeing the worried look on her face. "Everything will be fine. Come on, we have to go."

{ }

The first thing Marcel decided at the council meeting was that he didn't want a triumvirate anymore.

"There's an unfair, disproportionate amount of power held by the Mikaelsons in this system," Marcel proclaimed. "The vampires and the witches are both represented by a Mikaelson and someone of my choosing, and I want to change the government to have the same structure. So I propose that Vincent join our little group of leaders, and Davina take his place as the representative of the witches," he announced.

Davina looked surprised, and Vincent didn't.

"Vincent helped me to run the city while the Mikaelsons were gone," Marcel continued. "He is a skilled and disciplined practitioner of magic, as well as an effective leader of the witches of the city and liaison between the witches and the rest of the city. Davina is also a talented witch, but more importantly, she's family. I trust her to do what's right for this community, and I think that you all do too, and I know that she will have no problem letting you know when you're out of line."

"This also means that witches will be represented, when the triumvirate was essentially three vampires," Marcel added. "It seems more representative of the city to have two vampires, one witch, and one vampire-werewolf hybrid."

No one had any objections, and so when Marcel called the vote, everyone voted in favor of Davina joining the council.

"There is another urgent matter that we have to discuss," Marcel said. "What is your plan regarding your friend Bonnie's ability to bring people back from the dead?"

"Right, we should outline the rules and restrictions regarding the practical operation of the spell, as well as rules and restrictions regarding the use of the spell," Elijah agreed.

"Freya, you helped perform the spell, so you are the most qualified of all of us to establish those rules," Vincent noted.

"I can do that," Freya consented. "The rules are: for the spell to work, the person going into The Void must have Bonnie's blood in their system, so there's no way to do the spell without her knowledge or permission. The restrictions are: no one who died human can be brought back, no one who has moved on and is at peace can be brought back, and no one who died before The Other Side collapsed can be brought back."

"And what do you think should be the restrictions on the use of the spell?" Marcel asked. "How frequently can the spell be done, how many people can be brought back at one time, things like that."

"It is an exhausting spell that requires a lot of magic," Freya explained. "Everyone was so excited at the prospect of bringing loved ones back from the dead that we did the spell right away, but it might help if we did the spell during a full moon so that we could use that power. I think, to be safe, we probably shouldn't perform the spell more than once a month. If we do the spell during a full moon, we should wait until the next full moon to do it again. As far as how many people we can bring back, we were able to bring back four people and it took several hours. It's probably safest to agree to not bring back more than four people at a time."

"Can everyone live with that?" Marcel asked.

Everyone agreed.

"We'll come up with a list of people for the next full moon, if that's all right with you," Marcel said.

"Hold on a moment," Klaus interrupted. "I don't want to provide you with a revived army that you can use against us if you decide you want control of the city all for yourself. We only brought back family members and other loved ones, I think it's only fair if everyone sticks to that guideline."

"We can agree to that," Marcel conceded amenably. "If you ask me, the less we mess with alternate dimensions and resurrecting people, the better. As far as I know, Vincent probably would like his wife to come back, and Josh might ask for his boyfriend to be revived, but I think that's all."

"That's fine, we can do that," Freya said.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with nothing of great interest to report from any of the members of the council.

It was as they were wrapping up the meeting that things started to fall apart.

"Since we have a new member of the council, and everyone has settled down from last time this was proposed, I would like to revisit the idea of the werewolves having freedom to enter the city," Hayley proposed. "From what I remember last time the topic came up, no one was strongly opposed to the idea, though some of you were upset by the tactics that I was willing to resort to in order to make this proposition a reality. Though I do regret that my methods offended and worried you, so I will promise that I will not do anything like that again, I hope that my actions at that meeting and since then, as well as my determination to keep bringing this up until the wolves are given the freedom they deserve, show you all how important I consider this issue."

"Seriously?" Caroline and Rebekah responded immediately.

"You are starting to rub off on me and I'm not sure I like it," Rebekah told Caroline.

"You love me," Caroline grinned.

"I'm not sure I like that either," Rebekah sighed.

Klaus and Freya grinned at their antics, while Hayley sighed and tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.

"Can we consider it, or not?" Hayley repeated. "I'm willing to make a concession and start with Caroline's idea from our first meeting that the werewolves would start by having access to the city restricted to weekends before being able to have unrestricted access to the city, just as humans, witches, and vampires enjoy unrestricted access to the bayou."

"Have you consulted with other members of your wolf pack regarding their opinions on this matter? What is Jackson's opinion, for instance?" Marcel asked, trying to be diplomatic.

"Jackson agrees with me that the wolves should be treated with just as much respect as every other species, and forbidding them from entering the city does not show respect," Hayley answered haughtily.

"Does Jackson agree that you should not anger literally everyone on the council before asking them for favors?" Rebekah retorted.

"I said that I was sorry!" Hayley cried. "The twins are fine, and sure, no one's planning a surprise party in my honor, but you'd eased up on the silent treatment, so I thought you guys were getting over it."

Klaus laughed.

"Stupid little wolf," he said, disdain dripping from every word. "You must have forgotten that Katerina spent five hundred years running from me. I do not 'get over' anything. I simply choose how long a person must be punished for their crimes against me. Katerina prevented me from breaking my curse and unlocking my werewolf side for five hundred years, and she spent those years running, never settling down, never trusting anyone. You endangered the safety and well-being of two little girls that Hope considers her sisters. You would be fortunate to only have to run from me for five hundred years."

Hayley gulped.

"You see, Hayley," Klaus continued. "As you are a hybrid, there is very little I can do to punish you that you will not recover from. If I snap your neck, you will wake up in a few hours, perfectly healthy. But while physical torture may not have the lasting impact on you that you deserve, psychological torture can last however long I want it to. And everyone in the house knows this except you. So everyone gave you the cold shoulder and was blatantly angry with you for a while, then made an obvious show of thawing, to lull you into a false sense of security. What happens next, you ask? Well, that depends on you."

"But Caroline said she understood that I was just trying to help my pack have a better life," Hayley said, visibly startled and confused. "She said that she wasn't going to be angry with me!"

"Caroline is a much better person than you and I are," Klaus said casually, as if he wasn't discussing how he planned to torture the mother of his daughter. "You should be envious of her."

The emphasis that Klaus put on 'you' and 'her' made Caroline think that he was trying to tell Hayley something in the subtext of his statement, but Hayley looked just as confused as Caroline felt.

"Sorry, I forgot the intelligence and education level of the person I was speaking to," Klaus said, mockingly apologetic. "In your twisted mind, you believe, for reasons passing my understanding, that Caroline is jealous of you. I can't imagine why you think that anyone would be envious of your position as queen of your wolf pack, or why you consider it a personal accomplishment to be envied that as a first-born Mikaelson, my daughter is a powerful witch-werewolf hybrid, or why you would brag about being by far the worst sexual encounter I've ever had, or why you think that you were ever, even for a second, more important to me than Caroline is, but you do think these things, and you told Caroline that you think these things."

The color drained from Hayley's face as she realized that someone had been listening in on her argument with Caroline the day after the first council meeting.

"A house full of vampires, all of whom were angry with you, and you really thought that no one was listening in?" Klaus taunted.

Caroline glanced at Rebekah sitting next to her, suspecting that she was the culprit. The other girl was holding up her phone sideways so that she could fit Klaus and Hayley in the frame as she recorded the scene.

"I wish Kol and Katherine were here to see this in person," she lamented when she felt Caroline's eyes on her.

"I didn't mean it!" Hayley exclaimed. "I told Caroline that I didn't mean it! I was angry and guilty, and I said things that I shouldn't have said! Caroline, tell him that I didn't mean it!"

Caroline stared wide-eyed at Hayley. She didn't want Hope to suffer as part of whatever Klaus would put her through, but she didn't want to undermine Klaus's authority either. Plus, she was still upset with Hayley for risking her children's lives, and wasn't inclined to do her any favors.

Klaus saved Caroline the trouble of having to decide what to do.

"Don't you ever speak to her again," Klaus growled at Hayley. "Don't you ever try to take advantage of her good heart to save your worthless skin ever again."

"Worthless?" Hayley repeated, now more angry than confused or frantic. "I gave birth to your daughter, I was killed before they even let me hold her, I took care of her on my own for years while you were held captive in your own house, and now all of a sudden I'm worthless?"

"It's not all of a sudden," Klaus said quietly. "And you said it yourself: all of your value to me is completely limited to what you've done for Hope. I certainly appreciate you carrying, giving birth to, and caring for Hope, but it doesn't make me like you as a person."

Caroline finally tore her eyes away from Klaus and Hayley to see how everyone else in the room was reacting to Klaus's vicious attacks and Hayley's failed attempts to defend herself.

Elijah was stony-faced, torn between his loyalty to his brother and his past relationship with Hayley. Rebekah looked triumphant and somewhat amused, making Caroline wonder if she had been in on Klaus's plan to punish Hayley. Freya looked simultaneously satisfied and dismayed, feeling that Hayley deserved to be punished, but not necessarily agreeing with how brutally and publically Klaus was doing so. Marcel looked relieved that Klaus's anger was directed at someone else. Josh looked perplexed, having not seen what had been happening at the mansion. Vincent looked as though he'd just been forced to swallow something that tasted vile.

"So what are you going to do to me?" Hayley demanded angrily, determined to go down fighting.

"Since you can't be trusted to be loyal to everyone living in my house, you are no longer permitted to enter it," Klaus pronounced. "You will live in the bayou with Jackson and your loyal werewolf subjects, who should welcome you with open arms since you eagerly betrayed your daughter's family for them, and every day you can come to the gate and ask my permission to see Hope, and I will decide whether or not you can see her. You're lucky that I'm not forcing you to stay in your wolf form all the time this time. Or maybe you're not. Maybe, when you were a wolf you were unable to fully grasp human emotions, and staying human will allow you no escape from the pain of missing your daughter, and the agony of knowing that you are the only one to blame for being forbidden to see her."

"You can't keep my daughter away from me!" Hayley yelled.

"That is exactly what I'm doing, Hayley," Klaus said calmly.

In an uncontrolled rage, Hayley lunged at Caroline.

Klaus had Hayley restrained in seconds, putting her in a headlock while Elijah held her arms behind her back, preventing her from getting herself free or from hurting herself.

Freya stepped forward, ready to shield Caroline if Hayley broke free, Davina stood in between Hayley and Caroline, and Rebekah handed her phone to a very confused Josh, ordering him to keep filming while she stood with Caroline. Marcel, Vincent, and Josh stood frozen in place.

"This is all your fault!" Hayley screamed at Caroline. "Everyone loves perfect little Caroline, and they're taking everything away from me to give to you! They don't care what I've been through, what I've done for this family, they only care that their precious Caroline got her feelings hurt! They wouldn't even have Hope if it wasn't for me, and Klaus has always wanted me gone, and now because you won't tell the truth about how you told me that you weren't mad at me for what I did, he finally gets to get rid of me and have Hope all to himself! Can't you see that he's just using you as an excuse to take Hope away from me? You think you're so special, but you're just another stupid pawn in his little games, just like the rest of us!"

Everyone watched with bated breath as Caroline shook off Freya and Rebekah and walked over to Hayley. She stood close enough that their faces were only inches apart. Caroline used the back of her hand to lift Hayley's chin so that she had to look her in the eye as she spoke.

"I'm not a pawn, Hayley," Caroline said coldly. "I'm the queen."

Klaus grinned up at her, and Rebekah actually started clapping.

"I think we're finished here," Caroline said.

Everyone seemed eager to leave. Josh practically threw Rebekah's phone into her hands, finally stopping the recording.

"I will escort Hayley home," Elijah volunteered, keeping a tight grip on her arm as he led her out of the room.

Marcel looked unnerved at how quickly the meeting had gotten so far out of his control, but didn't try to stop them all from leaving.

Caroline took Klaus's hand as they walked out the door, with Rebekah, Freya, and Davina following after them.

"I knew the last two council meetings were way too calm," Caroline remarked.

"There was no way that was going to last," Rebekah responded.

{ }

When they returned home without Elijah and Hayley, naturally Katherine, Kol, Bonnie, Finn, and the twins were confused and concerned.

When they asked what happened, Caroline led the twins upstairs and Rebekah showed all of the adults her video recording of the confrontation that had occurred at the meeting.

When Caroline came back downstairs without the twins, Katherine and Kol started applauding.

"That was brilliant, darling!" Kol said.

"I was very impressed," Katherine echoed.

"I'm not in favor of keeping families apart, but I think she does need to stay away from the twins so she can't do anything to hurt them," Bonnie offered. "And I'm glad that you didn't have to be the one to sentence her, and that you got to have the last word," she told Caroline.

"Well, you know how fond I am of having the last word," Caroline said.

A few minutes later, Elijah returned with a tear-stained Hope in tow.

"Did you tell her what happened?" Klaus asked his older brother.

"I told her that she needed to come home with me and her mother needed to stay with Jackson and the wolves for the time being," Elijah answered. "It was Hayley who gave more details. She started screaming about how you were taking Hope away from her, and telling Hope that she would never see her mother again, and asking Hope to persuade me to let her stay in the bayou. Hayley was crying, Hope was crying; it was a very anguished performance."

"Come here, my littlest wolf," Klaus said to Hope softly. "I know that you're upset about some of the things that your mother told you, and I know that you're scared you won't get to see her. You are going to get to see your mother sometimes, but with Jackson back and her wolf pack to rule, she has to live in the bayou with them, at least for now. I thought that it would be better for you to keep living here, with me, Caroline and the twins, all of your aunts and uncles, Bonnie, Katherine, and Davina; where you feel safe, and comfortable, and surrounded by people who love you."

Hope wiped her tears on the sleeve of her tee-shirt, nodding to show she understood her father's words.

"Okay," Hope replied quietly.

"Hope, the twins are upstairs watching a movie if you'd like to join them," Caroline offered. "They probably haven't agreed on what to watch yet, so you probably haven't missed anything."

"Thanks, Caroline," Hope said, moving away from Klaus and towards the doorway.

When she reached the door, she turned around and looked at Klaus and Caroline standing together.

"Together we have parents," she said.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Caroline asked.

"Josie and Lizzie have their mom and I have my dad," Hope explained. "Between the three of us, we have one mom and one dad. Together we have parents."

Caroline looked at Klaus, almost wanting to convince him to change his mind and let Hayley return for Hope's sake. She knew what it was like to have a parent abandon their child, although Hayley hadn't voluntarily moved away from Hope and she still lived in the same city. Klaus, however, just shook his head sternly. Caroline realized that in Klaus's mind, the scenario Hope had described—she and Klaus raising their children together—was probably his ideal.

"I'm sorry about your mom not staying here with you," Caroline said to Hope. "But you'll still get to see her as much as possible, and she still loves you very much."

"I know," Hope answered. "And I'll miss seeing my mom all the time. But you're a good mom, too, even though you aren't actually my mom, so if I can't have my mom, I'm glad that I can have you."

Caroline felt her eyes start welling up with tears. No, Hope wasn't telling her that she loved her, or that she saw her as a mother, but considering the Mikaelsons' collective characteristic reluctance to openly and honestly discuss their feelings and Hope's attachment to her mother, this was an important statement. Hope was grateful for Caroline's presence in her life since she couldn't have Hayley for the foreseeable future.

"I'm glad," Caroline smiled warmly.

Hope darted out of the room to join the twins upstairs.

"So you're really going to not let Hayley see Hope?" Katherine asked Klaus.

"Not as much as she would like to," Klaus answered. "I won't have people living in my house who I can't trust to be loyal to everyone else living in my house. The real punishment for Hayley won't be never seeing Hope, even I'm not that cruel. It will be that I get to control when and how often she gets to see Hope. The lesson she has to learn is that if she wishes to live under my roof, she will follow my rules, and she will treat everyone in the house with respect."

"You all saw the video; she was awful," Rebekah said. "This has been building ever since that council meeting when she told Marcel about the twins. As far as I'm concerned, Josie and Lizzie are my nieces, just like Hope is, and Hayley betrayed members of this family. And I know that you didn't want to fight with her for the girls' sakes, Caroline, but honestly, I think allowing this to fester just made things worse and made Hayley more angry and justified in her anger."

"I feel awful that Hope is separated from her mom, though," Caroline said. "I know that what Hayley did was wrong, and no one wants to see her punished for it more than me, I just see how much Hope loves Hayley and how much she misses her already and I really want to see Hayley redeem herself for Hope's sake."

"I agree with Caroline," Freya added. "I hope that this is the end of this particular conflict and it's only up from here."

Elijah and Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"What is your plan, Nik?" Kol asked. "I know you have one."

"I know that I will not allow Hayley to see Hope today, tomorrow, or the day after that," Klaus said matter-of-factly. "After that, I'll probably allow her to see Hope once or twice a week for a while, then gradually increase that time as she proves herself trustworthy."

"This from the guy who sent me on the run for five hundred years for the crime of not dying the way he wanted me to?" Katherine said, incredulous.

"This is a careful balancing act of punishing Hayley without punishing Hope," Klaus replied. "I don't want to hurt Hope by keeping her from her mother too long, but I also don't want to reward Hayley by permitting her to see Hope frequently."

"I'm going to go check on the girls," Caroline excused herself.

She just wanted to hug her children, because they lived with her and so she could.

Caroline didn't think that she would ever be ruthless like the Mikaelsons, calmly discussing how they'd practically confiscated a child from her mother. She knew that she had every right to be angry with Hayley, and she was, but as a mother, she thought that punishing Hayley by not allowing her to see her child was cruel and heartbreaking. Her sympathy for Hayley was helping to mitigate some of her anger, though it would still take more time for it to go away completely, and longer still before that sympathy was replaced with forgiveness.

Until then, Caroline was going to watch Disney princess movies with the three girls, while Hayley was stuck in the bayou, howling at the moon.

* * *

Well? What do you think?

As harsh as the punishment is, I tried to explain that Klaus really sees Hayley's actions as a betrayal of his family, and I compared it to Katherine's punishment to show that Klaus can be extreme when seeking vengeance, and as he mentions, his options are limited considering Hayley's near indestructability and his refusal to hurt Hope in the process by hurting her mother or separating them permanently. I also compared it to a canon TO storyline to show that Klaus has already done something similar to her, and that the TO writers, who love Hayley beyond reason or explanation, wrote something similar to what I, someone who does not like Hayley at all, wrote in my story. Plus, more than one character expressed sympathy for her and foreshadowed that this is the first step on Hayley's redemption arc (and they're right, it is, though Hayley will not be as present in the story for a while, as I said in my earlier author's note, she's no longer an antagonist and it will only get better for Hayley and her relationships with other characters from here).

I would love to know what you thought of this chapter, so please leave me a review!

I will see you again on the twins' birthday (March 15th) for the next chapter!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	18. Chapter XVIII: Stay with Me

Surprise!

In honor of the anniversary of the finale of _The Vampire Diaries_ (and the love letter that confirmed our ship is endgame) I wanted to celebrate with an extra update, so I'm sneaking this one in! I still plan to update on the twins' birthday on the 15th, as promised! I can see a little chart that tells me where my readers are from (which is really cool, I love seeing all of the countries where there are people reading my writing) so I know that a lot of you are American, but for everyone in other countries, where it may not still be the 10th, I'm sorry I couldn't upload this earlier for you!

Ironically, this chapter doesn't actually have a lot of Klaroline in it, so I'm sorry about that, I wish I'd been able to plan this better.

Thank you so much for all of the reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad that most of you liked the events that occurred, and that even those of you who didn't were understanding, and even complimentary, which I really appreciated. I agree that what Klaus did to Hayley was very harsh, but I also think that we have to remember that this is Klaus, the Original Hybrid, we're dealing with. He doesn't give a person a slap on the wrist when they cross him, he finds their weakness and strikes where he knows it will hurt them most. I'm glad that you all understood that that was why Klaus punished Hayley the way he did.

I love when reviewers include specific things they liked about the chapter, and a few of you did that, so thank you for that! I'm glad that you liked Caroline's parting line (for now) to Hayley, and the girls' misunderstanding about what Klaus and Caroline being together meant. I can't tell you yet if it's foreshadowing, but I can remind you that I've already planned the end of the story. And I love that Rebekah getting her receipts made you laugh. She is rather dramatic, isn't she? (Can you tell that I love writing Rebekah?)

These next few chapters are what I'm calling pacing chapters (filler chapters makes them sound like the content is unimportant, which I don't like). I think that we need to slow down the pace of the story and refocus on the characters and their relationships with each other before the conflict really gets underway. These chapters are more relaxed and character-driven, and slow down the pace of the story for a little while, but I admit, they aren't super compelling, which is why I'm trying to update quickly so that we can get to the more exciting chapters that come afterwards. Trust me, if it isn't exciting for you to read, I can pretty much guarantee that it wasn't my favorite to write, either.

This chapter title has nothing to do with the Sam Smith song (sorry, Sam). You'll see when you get there. The quote is in italics.

Also, I try to be as respectful of the dead as possible, but I essentially write an essay about why Stefan and Caroline's relationship was never going to work in this chapter. I can't imagine that many of you are going to be displeased by that if you're reading a Klaroline story, but I just thought I should give you a heads up.

Anyway, happy endgame anniversary and happy reading!

* * *

The next few weeks passed without incident.

Hayley was able to take Hope out—for ice cream, shopping, to the playground—for an hour or so once a week for the past two weeks, and that had gone well. Though, unbeknownst to Hayley, Klaus had sent along a few hybrids to keep an eye on things.

They attended a few more council meetings that actually were just ordinary council meetings, and Hayley never brought up the idea of letting the werewolves into the city again.

Katherine and Elijah spent a lot of time together, trying to get their relationship back on track after their many ups and downs in recent years.

The twins played with Hope, while the adults took turns supervising them, though Caroline was always one of them. They talked to Alaric, who was preparing to move to New Orleans to start his new teaching job. He was packing up his house and looking for a home near the university.

Bonnie, Freya, and Davina taught the girls magic and made preparations to channel the power of the next full moon to venture back into the void to resurrect the dead loved ones that Marcel, Vincent, and Josh asked for.

Finn was making great strides towards readjusting to life in New Orleans, but he still wasn't very social and didn't speak often.

They made no threats and no threats were made against them. Their days followed the same patterns, one after another.

It was a period of stasis for the Mikaelson family, as stagnant as the hot, humid air that made summer in the South so famously uncomfortable.

The last week of July brought with it a heat wave so intense that even the vampires, who supposedly weren't effected by temperature, couldn't escape it.

On one such day, when it was already almost ninety degrees when she woke up in the morning, Caroline pulled on a lightweight white sundress patterned with pink flowers and a matching cropped, short-sleeved pink shrug over it—a lingering habit from when she was human and her shoulders sunburned easily.

As soon as she arrived in the dining room, Katherine started shouting at her.

"Oh, no," she said, her voice disapproving.

The other occupants of the room—Elijah, Finn, and Hope—all looked confused, but didn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"Rebekah!" Katherine called out.

Rebekah appeared seconds later, wearing a shimmering amethyst sleeveless blouse and a miniskirt made to look like it was made of liquid silver.

"Oh, dear," Rebekah said.

"What is the problem?" Caroline asked, growing frustrated.

"You're coming with us, Miss Mystic Falls," Katherine ordered. "Babies!" she called out.

The twins, who must have already been close to hear Katherine calling them, came running into the room.

"We're taking your mother shopping," Katherine told them.

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed. "That's the serious issue you both looked so upset over?"

"Caroline, your children are better dressed than you are, and they're three," Rebekah said.

Josie was wearing a sleeveless empire-waist blouse that was made of a fitted blue material on top and a floaty yellow material on the bottom, with the two sections divided by a red ribbon, and white shorts. Lizzie was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse with matching rhinestones decorating the straps, and grey shorts.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Caroline asked.

"Look at me," Katherine instructed, gesturing to the black faux-leather miniskirt and dark red silk blouse she was wearing. "Now look at you. You dress like an elementary-school-age Southern Belle, and that might have worked in Mystic Falls when you were head cheerleader and pageant queen, but if you're going to help run this city, you need to start dressing like an adult."

"I'm not sure I want you as my fashion advisor," Caroline said. "If left in your hands, I think my wardrobe would become almost entirely black and made of leather."

"Rebekah is coming, too. Between the three of us, we'll find some things that work," Katherine responded.

Just then, Freya and Klaus walked into the room, laughing together. Klaus, somehow unaffected by the heat, was wearing his usual outfit of a black henley, black jeans, and black boots. Freya was wearing a black paisley-print top, black shorts, and gladiator sandals.

"Freya can come, too," Katherine decided. "In case you're more into the hippie thing, though I always associated that with witches, but whatever."

"Freya can come where?" Freya asked.

"They're insisting on taking me shopping," Caroline explained.

"Cool, I'm in," Freya agreed.

"Well, if Freya is coming, too, then this is a proper girls' outing, and we need to wait for Bonnie," Caroline said.

"No, Bonnie is not allowed to come," Katherine insisted. "She has been enabling you with your Barbie's little sister, girly, pink, floral print dresses for who even knows how long. And before you try, we aren't bringing the girls, either. You will be too preoccupied watching them to actually look for clothes."

"For the record, Rebekah bought me some clothes—without my permission, mind you, but she still did it—not that long ago," Caroline informed them.

"We bought you some basic staples that would get you through until the rest of your clothes could be shipped here," Rebekah defended herself. "We got you a few pairs of jeans, some plain shirts, a couple of jackets. Not an entire wardrobe. If I'd known that your entire wardrobe back home consisted of dresses best suited to a children's garden party, I would have replaced it all."

Caroline turned to Klaus, giving him a look that clearly said, "Rescue me!" but he just chuckled, took his wallet out of his back pocket, and handed her a credit card.

"Have fun, sweetheart," he told her.

"You are a traitor," Caroline accused, pointing her finger at him.

"Now it's a crime to want to take care of you and make you happy?" Klaus asked rhetorically, with false innocence.

He tucked a piece of Caroline's hair behind her ear and kissed her quickly.

"I'll see you when you get home, my love," he said.

"I'm still angry with you," Caroline insisted.

Klaus laughed and waved her off.

"Okay, let's go!" Rebekah took Caroline by the arm and pulled her towards the door.

{ }

"Is there anything that you just won't wear, under any circumstances?" Rebekah asked Caroline as the four women looked through a rack of clothing.

"No leather," she answered with a sharp look at Katherine, who winked. "No green, camouflage, or flannel. And I don't really like to wear blue."

"So nothing Katherine wears, and nothing Hayley wears, got it. Anything that looks like it would fit right in in their closets is an automatic no," Rebekah replied. "But why not blue? The dress Nik gave you for our family's ball was blue."

Katherine snickered.

"Whatever dirty joke is going through your head right now, Katherine Pierce, I do not want to hear it," Caroline said, pointing at her.

"Yes, Mom," Katherine smirked.

"That dress was great, I just usually don't pick out blue clothing for myself after someone told me that the color wasn't flattering on me," Caroline responded.

Katherine looked like she wanted to say something in response, but Freya put her hand on Katherine's arm and gestured for her to let it go.

"How about this?" Freya asked, holding up a bronze three-quarter sleeve A-line dress with a subtle metallic sheen.

"I like it," Caroline approved, adding it to the pile of clothes she was carrying over her arm.

Fortunately, Katherine, Rebekah, and Freya hadn't tried to force Caroline to get anything that was wildly different from her usual style or too far out of her comfort zone. She still had a lot of dresses, but they were made of sturdier fabrics. Her schoolgirl-style denim and corduroy jackets had been upgraded to suede and wool. Bubblegum pink was replaced with rich raspberry, sunshine yellow with luxurious gold. Katherine and Rebekah tried to steer her more towards black and dark grey for neutral colors rather than the white and light brown Caroline usually chose. They refused to let her pick up anything with a floral or polka-dot print, insisting on mostly solid colors.

After all four girls were weighed down with clothing, Caroline started to try things on and found that she liked the new style that she was developing. Katherine was right; it was important to look like a grown woman if she was going to help govern the city and be responsible for an entire species. But she still looked like herself: she wasn't dressed like Catwoman like Katherine, or a fashion-forward Barbie Doll like Rebekah, or a flower child like Freya, or a ready-for-battle-at-all-times she-wolf warrior queen like Hayley. She looked like Caroline, just a mature, professional Caroline.

Caroline checked the time on her phone.

"I hate spending so much time away from the girls," Caroline lamented.

"Caroline, you've spent every waking minute with the girls since Klaus banished Hayley. It's okay to take a few hours to yourself," Freya said.

"And everyone loves spending time with the twins. I'm sure Kol is having a blast playing with them right now," Rebekah added. "It isn't like you're constantly leaving the girls with one of us and doing whatever you want. As much as I love spending time with Hope, it would drive me crazy when Hayley would leave her with us without any warning so that she could do something else, usually involving the wolves, but then other times she would act like we were all horrible people who were unworthy of going anywhere near her perfect daughter, as if she wasn't my niece who I absolutely adore."

"I'm just trying to be a good mother," Caroline retorted, ignoring Rebekah's comments about Hayley and retreating back into the fitting room to try on another outfit.

"Why, though?" Katherine asked. Caroline opened the fitting room door wearing a different dress. They all looked at her strangely. "I'm serious. Why is it so important to you to be a good mother? Why do you try so hard to be perfect instead of just telling yourself that you're doing the best you can for your daughters and that you'll make mistakes but that's okay?"

"Because I can choose that," Caroline answered, pulling a blazer on over the dress. "I didn't choose to be a mother, but I can choose to be a good one. Just like I didn't choose to be a vampire, but I can choose to be a good one."

Rebekah and Freya looked impressed.

"I'm proud to have created you, Caroline," Katherine said, and it was the most sincere Caroline had ever seen her.

"Thanks."

"Even though I did turn you with the intention of handing you over to Klaus for a sacrifice, but I think one could argue that that is exactly what I did, though it didn't happen the way I thought it would."

Both of Klaus's sisters giggled.

"Don't listen to her," Freya said, sobering. "Klaus loves you so much, and he's so happy with you."

"Oh, believe me, I know, and I'm happy about that, too," Katherine interjected. "Happy Klaus equals alive Katherine. I just don't understand how a person goes straight from Stefan to Klaus."

Katherine's comment stung. It made her sound she'd abandoned Stefan to run off with Klaus, when he'd been the one to abandon her.

"You know it wasn't like that," Caroline responded.

"That isn't what I meant," Katherine corrected. "I just meant that you were in a relationship with Stefan, and now you're in a relationship with Klaus. They're just so different. I would have thought you would have picked the good guy, not the Original king of evil."

"The more time passes, the more I'm not sure Stefan was the good guy," Caroline mused. "He turned his humanity off more than any other vampire I've met, and he literally killed people by tearing them into pieces. I'm not saying that we're all wrong and Klaus is the hero and Stefan is the villain, I just think 'good' is subjective when it comes to vampires."

"I want to be on your side, Care Bear, I really do, I just don't understand what a nice girl like you, who's obsessed with being good and is the actual personification of sunshine, could possibly see in the guy who hunted me for five hundred years after I managed to escape his plot to kill me so that he could be a werewolf as well as a vampire," Katherine said.

"And whose home you are now living in, free of rent, where he treats you with the same respect that he shows everyone else in the house," Rebekah pointed out, defending her brother.

"Which I appreciate, and we all know is partly because of Elijah, but mostly because of Caroline," Katherine argued.

"Look, Katherine, I totally understand you still being wary of Klaus. I know that he's done horrible things, some of them to me and a lot of them to you. I'm not so naïve that I think that I can change him or make him a good person. But if it helps, I know that he is capable of being good, and kind, and forgiving, and merciful. I've seen it. And he loves me, so much, and not just in spite of all of my flaws and insecurities and my vampirism and my motherhood, but because of all of those things, which is more than I can say for Stefan," Caroline explained, replacing the blazer with a suede jacket. "Stefan hated being a vampire, he felt so guilty and ashamed of it, and his way of coping was to essentially pretend he wasn't a vampire as much as possible. He taught himself to have ironclad control over his vampire urges, because if he relinquished that control even a little, he might turn into his Ripper self. When Elena convinced him to teach me how to be a vampire, he taught me that same control, and he seemed almost envious of how well I took to being a vampire and how quickly I learned to control myself, but he also taught me that control was necessary and that mistakes and slip-ups wouldn't be tolerated. That being a vampire wasn't something to be accepted or enjoyed, but to be hidden and ashamed of. I always got the impression that the people he loved who were vampires—Damon, Elena, and me—he saw the fact that we were vampires as something that he had to ignore or overcome in order to love us. And when he became human, there was no way that our relationship could continue. After finally getting to be human again, he could never love someone who preferred being a vampire."

"You really think Stefan didn't love you?" Katherine asked, sympathy and concern leaking into her tone.

"I think he thought he did, and I think he wanted to, but he could never love me as much as he loved Damon or as much as he loved Elena," Caroline answered. "My mother practically asked him on her deathbed to be my boyfriend so that I wouldn't be alone, because I guess she still didn't trust me to be independent and take care of myself. We were such good friends, and that made me think that he would be a good boyfriend, but our relationship was nothing like the epic love that Stefan and Elena had, which I envied so much."

"I confronted him about that once," Rebekah informed them. "I had told him that I envied the love that he had for Elena, and I asked him if he thought he could ever love anyone the way he loved her, and it was so obvious that even if he tried to tell himself that he was over her and that he could move on, that he'd always be in love with Elena, and that he'd never love anyone as much as he loved her."

Caroline had almost forgotten that Rebekah and Stefan had history that was more recent than their whirlwind romance in the 1920s. As she started to apologize, Rebekah shook her head, pulled a dress of its hanger, handed it Caroline, and shoved her back into the fitting room.

When Caroline finished changing, Freya was speaking.

"I obviously didn't know Stefan as well as the three of you did," the witch conceded. "But when I met him he seemed so… cold, and since you're so warm and happy and loving, I can't really picture you with him, Caroline."

"What do you mean, cold?" Caroline asked. Cold wasn't a word she would have chosen to describe Stefan.

"He had this detached, icy demeanor," Freya elaborated. "Granted, we had our own problems to deal with and weren't exactly throwing him a welcome party, but even when I was helping him avoid being killed by the vampire hunter, he didn't smile, he didn't say thank you. And he was even worse around Klaus. I mean, Klaus brought Stefan into his house, risking the lives of his family, even the ones who weren't vampires, even his baby daughter, just to help Stefan, and the whole time he was there I could practically see the waves of anger and resentment towards Klaus just rolling off of him. I couldn't tell if he didn't understand the risk that Klaus was taking by helping him, or if he just didn't care, but he didn't seem the least bit grateful for what we were doing for him. It was almost like he was mad that Klaus was the one who was helping him."

Caroline, shocked by Freya's account of what had happened, felt her eyes fill with tears.

"It was because of me," Caroline whispered. The other three girls looked at her questioningly. "Stefan was on the run from Rayna Cruz, and I hadn't heard from him in a while, so I called him, and Klaus picked up the phone. He talked to me about the twins, he offered Hope's hand-me-downs for them, he offered his condolences on my mother's passing, and he promised me that he would make sure that Stefan was fine. I didn't know how he was going to do that, but Klaus has kept every promise he's made me, so I trusted him. I didn't know that he would have to endanger his family to do so, I'm sorry, Freya."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Freya replied. "That doesn't explain why Stefan was so mad at Klaus though."

"Stefan was mad at Klaus because Klaus was obviously still in love with Caroline and Stefan hated that Klaus was the one who could save him, which made Klaus look like the smarter, stronger, better choice for Caroline to be with. If Stefan was really confident in your relationship, if he really knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were the love of his life and he was yours, and you were meant to be together forever, then Klaus's feelings for you, and Klaus doing him a favor wouldn't have bothered him," Katherine concluded. "I don't know if I'll ever like Klaus after hating him for five hundred years, but I do know that he really loves you, and he does know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the love of his life, and I know that you deserve someone who would risk his own life and the lives of his family to save your boyfriend because he thinks it will make you happy, rather than someone who will sacrifice his life for his brother and his ex-girlfriend without giving you a second thought."

"Thanks, Katherine," Caroline said. "I appreciate your support, and I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home, even if you didn't approve. I hope that you and Klaus can eventually learn to like each other, and even become friends in the future."

"Well, I don't know about that, but if there's anyone who can make it happen, it's you, sunshine," Katherine responded.

Caroline stepped out into the outer area of the fitting rooms wearing the white and pink floral-print dress she'd left the house in.

"I'm finished," she said, gesturing to the large pile of shirts, jackets, pants, skirts, and dresses in deep pink, black, white, gold, bronze, dark gray, dark brown, dark red, and burnt orange.

"Great, let's go check out," Rebekah said, standing up.

"I can't get all of this!" Caroline insisted.

"Are we doing this again?" Rebekah asked irritably. "Nik gave you his credit card so that you would use it."

"I know, I just feel like a trophy girlfriend, who's only role in life is to look pretty and spend her boyfriend's money," Caroline explained.

"So, you want to get a job? Is that what you're saying?" Katherine asked.

"Yes!" Caroline confirmed. "I used to work for a news station. I always wanted to go into broadcast journalism."

"That's not a great idea, poppet," Rebekah interjected.

"Why not?" Caroline asked, crestfallen.

"You don't want to have video footage of you readily available. Within the city, humans are more aware and tolerant of vampires than you're used to in Mystic Falls, but television news stations would broadcast in larger areas, including places outside of the city where humans have no idea we exist. You would only have a few years before someone watching you on the news every night notices that you haven't appeared to age since they've been watching. A quick look through the station's archive will show that, in fact, you do look exactly the same as you did years earlier. If you really want to work in journalism, I suggest you write for a newspaper, so that ordinary human readers won't know what you look like, and all of the humans you would need to interview would already know you as their representative on the council," Rebekah advised.

"I never considered that, but that's a good idea. Thanks, Rebekah," Caroline replied.

"You're welcome, but for the record, Nik is rich enough that you don't have to work another day in your life if don't want to," Rebekah said. "You can raise your daughters, and serve on the council, and prevent Nik from killing Katherine, as he will inevitably want to."

"You're so funny," Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Can we buy these clothes now and job hunt later? I want to get ice cream on the way home. Some of us are still living and can feel this stifling heat," Freya interrupted.

When it was their turn in line, Caroline reluctantly handed over Klaus's credit card to the cashier. When she was finished scanning all of Caroline's clothes, she glanced at the card quickly before giving it back to Caroline along with the receipt.

"Just your signature here please, Mrs. Mikaelson," the cashier said flatly.

Caroline heard Katherine and Rebekah chuckle behind her, but she didn't say anything herself, just quickly scrawling her name on the line across the bottom of the receipt.

"Have a nice day," the cashier told them in a bored voice, handing Caroline her bags.

"Thank you," Caroline replied.

Caroline led the way out of the store, the other trailing after her.

"Would you like some help with your bags, Mrs. Mikaelson?" Katherine teased.

"We are not telling Klaus that happened," Caroline insisted.

"Are you saying that you don't want to be a part of our family? I see how it is," Rebekah fake-pouted.

"That's not it at all! I would love to be a part of your family!" Caroline assured her. "It just wasn't that long ago that the girls got it into their heads that they wanted us to get married so that they could be sisters, and I don't want him to think that I'm running some sort of conspiracy to get him to ask me to marry him. We haven't been together for very long, and I don't want him to feel pressured to do something he doesn't want to do. I want to be with him forever, and he's assured me that he feels the same way, with wedding rings or without them."

"Okay," Rebekah and Katherine exchanged disbelieving smirks.

"Let's drop this, and go get Freya her ice cream before she melts," Caroline said, effectively ending the conversation.

{ }

When they returned home, the girls were playing outside in the courtyard. Someone (Caroline was sure it was Bonnie) had drawn a hopscotch diagram on the ground, and Bonnie, Klaus, Elijah, and Finn were watching them play.

When Bonnie saw the four of them approach, she said in an announcer's voice, "There she is, Mystic Falls Elementary School's third grade hopscotch champion, Caroline Forbes!"

Caroline took a mocking bow.

"You remembered the human interest portion of my eulogy," Caroline remarked.

"Your eulogy?" Freya asked.

"On my eighteenth birthday, I was a little sad that I would never actually be eighteen, and that I was physically frozen forever at seventeen years old. So, Elena, Matt, and Bonnie threw me a funeral instead of a birthday, so that I could put human Caroline behind me and fully embrace forever-seventeen vampire Caroline," Caroline explained.

"Did that help you?" Freya asked.

"Considering my fake funeral came very close to preceding my real funeral, not so much," Caroline answered. "I was bitten by a hybrid when I was leaving the party."

Freya glanced at Klaus suspiciously.

"It wasn't me," Klaus defended himself.

"It was on your orders!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I told him he didn't have to, that I would find another way to make my point, but he did it anyway," Klaus continued.

"Anyway, at my fake funeral, Elena mentioned that I was hopscotch champion in the third grade," Caroline said. "Who's the hopscotch champion of these three?"

"I'd say they're relatively evenly matched," Klaus told her. "Hope is tallest so she has the longest legs, but Josie has the best balance. I haven't yet figured out what Lizzie's skill set is, unless it's just being so cute that no one has the heart to scold her for cheating, though I don't think her sister would fall for that, but she seems to be holding her own."

Katherine and Elijah went inside, but Freya and Rebekah stayed to watch the girls.

Klaus moved to stand behind Caroline and wrapped his arms around her.

Rebekah took Caroline's shopping bags and ran inside, putting them in Caroline's room, then returning to the courtyard and resuming her position next to Caroline.

She looked over at Klaus and Caroline, then started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Caroline asked.

"I'm just remembering when Nik called Finn a lovesick fool," Rebekah chuckled.

Finn, standing further back than the other four of them, looked neither offended nor surprised upon hearing his younger brother's past insult.

"Sorry, Finn," Caroline apologized. "For, you know, him," Caroline gestured to Klaus.

Finn offered a small smile.

"It's not the first time Niklaus has insulted me, and I'm sure it will not be the last," he said.

"I've never seen Finn smile before," Caroline whispered conspiratorially to Klaus. "I made Finn smile, did you see that?"

"Yes, it was quite impressive, my love," Klaus acknowledged.

Caroline heard Finn sigh.

"I love this family," Caroline declared with a grin.

"This family loves you," Klaus returned.

"No, I mean, like, you've crowned yourself king of the city and the supernatural world or whatever, but to Finn and Elijah, you're still just their annoying kid brother, and to Rebekah, you're still her bossy, overprotective big brother. It's cute."

"We're cute?" Klaus repeated incredulously, flashing his hybrid face, his eyes turning golden, his veins appearing under his eyes, and his fangs descending.

"Don't try to look scary, you're still cute," Caroline scolded.

"You're a part of this family, too, you know," Klaus told her. "And you're quite cute yourself."

{ }

That night, New Orleans was inundated by one of those torrential storms that summers in the South are famous for. Gusts of wind threatened to knock over trees, thunder rolled, and lightning flashed.

Klaus lay awake, unable to sleep with the noise and light right outside the window.

Caroline had no such problem, her relaxed figure lying still beside him, her breathing deep and even.

As uptight as she was, Klaus would have assumed that Caroline slept fitfully, tossing and turning, even speaking aloud in her sleep, but Caroline actually fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow and remained in the exact same position until morning.

Watching Caroline sleep, Klaus felt fortunate, privileged even, to be learning these things about her. He was the one who got to see what she looked like when she slept, what she sounded like when she was laughing with her daughters, what she tasted like when he pressed his lips to hers for a quick kiss.

He still sometimes found it hard to believe that Caroline really was in New Orleans, living with him, and she'd come to the city with no other objective than to seek him out and help him when she realized that he was in trouble.

In the weeks that she'd been living with him, he'd become a better person, as challenging as that might have been to believe. It was thanks to Caroline's influence that Katherine was still roaming the house freely and giggling flirtatiously at his brother, and that Hayley was still able to have any contact with Hope at all, even though her crimes were against Caroline herself.

He'd already explained to Caroline that he'd shown kindness, forgiveness, and pity on her behalf, but he hadn't known then that it would be a consistent adaptation of his character, that he would continually want to treat the people around him, even the ones who crossed him, better.

Caroline had had a similar impact on the rest of his family as well. Rebekah was kinder and softer as a result of having a good, genuine friend for the first time in centuries. Freya, as well, was happier and more vibrant thanks to Caroline's friendship. Kol was a little more sincere, and Elijah was a little less stiff, after Caroline had worked her magic on both of them with her sweet smiles and positive reinforcement. And Hope finally had the mother he'd always wanted her to have, the woman he would be proud to introduce as the mother of his children.

Caroline was his family, and she always would be.

He'd promised her forever before, when he was telling her that he would wait, that she could come find him at any point in the future, and he would gladly take her wherever she wanted to go and give her whatever she wanted to have. Now, she was here, with him, and he could see forever in this house, with their children, as a family.

Klaus heard little footsteps approaching the bedroom door. Slowly, the door opened to reveal Lizzie, wearing a pale pink nightgown and clutching the stuffed white cat with a pink bow around its neck that Klaus had bought for her weeks ago.

The little blonde shuffled over to her mother, leaning over so that her face was parallel to Caroline's.

"Mommy?" Lizzie whispered.

Caroline's eyes fluttered open, still half-asleep.

"Come here, sweetheart," Klaus whispered to Lizzie.

The little girl ran around the side of the bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I tried to stay in my room, I really did, but the thunder is really scary, and Mommy lets me stay in her room when there's thunder, so can I please stay here until it's over?" Lizzie pleaded.

Klaus hadn't heard the end of Lizzie's request.

 _"_ _Will you stay with me until the storm ends?"_ Klaus heard a different little blonde girl say inside his head.

He hadn't really realized until that moment that he was not only so devoted to Lizzie because she looked like she might have, in another life where it could have been possible, been Klaus and Caroline's daughter, with her blonde hair that fell somewhere between Klaus's and Caroline's hair colors and her blue eyes that were similar enough to theirs to look like they might have come from the same gene pool, if such a thing existed. No, he also was so dedicated to Lizzie because she reminded him of a young Rebekah, back when she was his sweet, loving, loyal human sister, before the centuries of blood and violence and constant vigilance hardened her. Even before she was born, Klaus had pictured his daughter as resembling his little sister from a millennium ago, and in his daughter, he would have another chance to do right by Rebekah. Hope didn't resemble Rebekah in the slightest, with her red hair that surely came from Hayley's genetics, and she was also already more determined, assertive, and fearless than Rebekah had been as a human. But in Lizzie, he saw another little blonde girl who had asked for his protection from a storm, and if he made sure that Lizzie always felt safe and happy and loved, couldn't that start to make up for the ways he had mistreated Rebekah?

Without another thought, Klaus picked Lizzie up and placed her in the bed between himself and Caroline, who, having never fully woken up, had easily fallen back asleep. Klaus assumed that she found a way to deliberately not use her vampire senses while she was trying to sleep, or else she would have woken up in a panic every time one of the twins made even the quietest noise.

A few minutes later, Lizzie was fast asleep, snuggled close to her mother, still tightly hugging her stuffed cat.

The next time the thunder rolled, Lizzie didn't even notice.

Klaus had just finished congratulating himself on comforting Lizzie enough that she was able to fall asleep, when he heard the frightened cry of one of the other girls. He had spent enough time with all three girls to be able to tell their voices apart, even with the only slight differences between the twins', to the point that he was confident that he would be able to find all three of them even in crowds of a hundred, a thousand, a million screaming girls. Even though their rooms were right next to each other, and Hope might have moved into the twins' room when they heard the storm, he was completely sure that the one making the noise was Josie.

This noise was loud enough to wake Caroline, who groggily started to sit up, then noticed Lizzie sleeping against her, making it impossible for her to get out of bed without waking her daughter.

"I'll go check on her," Klaus offered.

"Sometimes she doesn't wake up," Caroline yawned. "She has nightmares, and sometimes you can calm her down while she's still asleep."

Klaus nodded and got out of bed.

When Klaus entered the twins' room, Josie was huddled under the yellow comforter printed with a red rose in a glass container, which Klaus had bought for her at the Disney Store. She was wrapped around her stuffed dog, her body curled into a tense little ball, but she wasn't shivering or crying. He didn't want to wake her up if she'd already calmed herself down, but he didn't want to leave the room so soon if this was just a brief respite.

Since Josie appeared to have calmed down, at least momentarily, Klaus took the time to make Lizzie's bed; her fitful sleep twisting her pink comforter into a knot. Klaus tucked in her pink blankets and smoothed out the comforter so that the image of the castle was facing the foot of the bed.

He'd just finished when Josie cried out again. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but Klaus could see the rapid movement of her eyes underneath the lids, proving that she was in a state of deep sleep.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she cried haltingly.

Klaus walked over to her and stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. He couldn't help but feel a little rejected that Josie wanted her father rather than him during this bad dream, even though she was in his house and she hadn't seen her father in weeks. He told himself that she was fast asleep, and she wasn't consciously aware of what she was saying, that she didn't know where she was and who was there with her, that it was an instinct to want her parents when she was upset, but Klaus still felt the need to prove to her, to himself, to Caroline, that he was capable of comforting Josie himself, that even though he wasn't her father, he still loved her and could keep her safe.

Josie moved her head a little in response to Klaus's touch. He continued stroking her hair for a few minutes until he heard her breathing slow down further and saw her posture relax a little. Klaus smiled a little, heartened by how Josie seemed to have found some comfort in his presence. Then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her into his and Caroline's room, placing her down on the bed next to her twin.

Since the storm was clearly having negative effects on Lizzie and Josie, Klaus decided to check on Hope while he was up, leaving Caroline and the twins asleep in bed.

In her room, Hope was sitting up in bed, staring blankly out the window through the gap in her curtains. She was clutching the stuffed wolf that he had given her when she was a baby, her other hand on the shimmering green tail printed on her turquoise comforter, which was cut off at the top to give children the impression that the mermaid was swimming past them as they slept.

"Hope, what are you doing awake?" Klaus asked.

"I can't sleep," Hope answered blankly.

Hope's expression worried Klaus. She seemed distant, like she wasn't fully awake. She was looking out at the storm as if it was somehow pulling her in. He hadn't known Hope to ever be particularly drawn to rain, though he'd also never seen her scared of it, even as a baby. Of course, he had missed a few rainy seasons in his daughter's life, so he couldn't be sure that she hadn't developed a fear of storms while they had been separated.

"Are you scared of the storm?" he asked.

"No," Hope shook her head.

Klaus knew that Hayley would have instilled in Hope the importance of seeming brave, fearless even, so Hope, like her mother, would never admit to being afraid of anything, not even to him. He didn't want Hope to be alone or feel left out, so he knew he would have to be the one to suggest that she come with him.

"Because it's okay if you are. Lizzie was scared of the thunder, so she climbed into bed with Caroline and I, and Josie had a nightmare so I brought her in there, too. There's enough room for one more if you don't want to be alone in here," Klaus offered.

Hope considered this for a moment as another strike of lightning flashed across the sky. Her bright blue eyes seemed almost to glow as they reflected the burst of light. When the sky went dark again, she blinked, as if snapping out of a trance. She turned away from the window and towards Klaus, who was holding out his hand to her.

"Okay," she agreed, nodding her head.

Hope threw back the edge of her bedding and walked out of the room with Klaus, her stuffed wolf still in her hand.

In Caroline's room, Hope climbed into the bed next to Josie, the sound of three sets of deep breathing lulling her to sleep in only a few minutes.

Klaus smiled fondly at all of his girls lying side by side. Caroline had pulled herself to the edge of the bed to give the girls as much room as possible. Lizzie had pressed herself as close to Caroline as she could, tucking her head under Caroline's chin and squishing her stuffed cat between them. Josie was facing away from her mother and sister, her face buried in the fur of her stuffed dog. Hope had fallen back asleep on her back, her arms relaxing enough that her stuffed wolf had dropped out of her hold and fallen to sit by her knees. There would be barely enough room for him with Caroline, their three daughters, and their three daughters' stuffed animals, but it would be worth feeling a little cramped to have them all feel safe and happy.

Leaving the four of them in the bed, Klaus walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains, watching as the storm clouds rolled away, revealing a dark, moonless sky.

* * *

What was that all about? I know, but I want to know if you know. It's going to get a little Haunted Mansion for the next few chapters, but all will be revealed very soon. I'm trying really hard to make sure it's less Casper the Friendly Ghost playing harmless pranks and more there is an excess of dark magic in the vicinity, but I'm not sure yet how well it's working.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them! And please feel free to review at any time! On the last chapter, I only received reviews the day I updated. Please never feel like if you didn't get to read and review right away that you've lost your chance. Getting reviews helps motivate me to write the next chapter, so I love getting them at any time!

This time, I promise, my next update will be on the twins' birthday, March 15th. This is the only surprise update you're getting in the foreseeable future!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	19. Chapter IXX: Opportunity for Eternity

Hello!

Happy Birthday to Lizzie and Josie Saltzman! They're four years old today! I wanted to make sure I updated on the twins' birthday, because I had wanted to update on Caroline's last birthday, but I couldn't because my family and I had to evacuate because of fires in our area. So I'm glad that there are no natural disasters preventing me from updating this time!

Also, a reviewer mentioned that today is their birthday as well, so I'd also like to wish a very happy birthday to Klaroliner394! (sorry, you didn't leave your given name in your review, so I'm using your username.)

I love that so many of you liked and/or were intrigued by the storm at the end of the last chapter!

Since some of you mentioned this in your reviews, I can tell you for certain that the Hollow is not the villain in this story. I still don't fully understand the Hollow, and in true TO form, I was more confused after their explanation. I think that she was a werewolf, who got too powerful, and so she was killed, and then turned into that eerie glowing blue light, who can possess people and whose weakness is Hayley, because of course Hayley is both Superwoman and her enemy's Kryptonite? I'm not sure, and I didn't really like that storyline anyway, so it won't be a part of this story.

On a related note, Hope is not possessed. Neither is Josie, and neither is Lizzie. All three girls were affected by the storm in different ways. A guest reviewer described Hope's reaction to the storm as "as if there was magic in the air calling out to her" which is such a perfect description. The storm is definitely magical in origin, and related to the villain, who you'll meet in a few chapters.

Someone also mentioned Lizzie's and Josie's stuffed animals, who made their first appearance in Chapter Ten, when Klaus and Rebekah took the girls shopping. They both have Disney characters, though Klaus didn't mention their names, because he doesn't know them (he has more important information to remember), but Lizzie has Marie from _The Aristocats_ and Josie has Lady from _Lady and the Tramp_. Though I like your theory about their stuffed animals being commentary on the supernatural species… plus, Josie's dog does make her the perfect bridge between Lizzie's cat and Hope's wolf.

This chapter is one of the few I've written in which I built the chapter around one item on the checklist in my outline. Since _TVD_ dedicated an entire episode to Katherine's death (which ended up being all about Klaroline), I'm dedicating an entire chapter to Katherine's transition (which ended up being all about Klaroline).

Happy reading!

* * *

"I want to be a vampire again," Katherine announced at breakfast a few days later.

"During breakfast isn't exactly the best time," Kol joked.

That morning was one of the rare occasions where all of them were in the dining room eating breakfast together at the same time. There weren't enough chairs at the table for all thirteen of them, so Klaus and Elijah had made a kids table for the three girls. In addition to making sure everyone had a place to sit, the addition of the smaller table and four chairs, set lower to the ground to accommodate the girls' heights, allowed the adults to discuss supernatural business without worrying about the girls listening closely or interrupting. Lizzie, Josie, and Hope were in their own world, discussing the possibility that Ariel's underwater collection of treasures included the lost possessions of other princesses.

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't have to be right now, I just want it to happen today. I'm not getting any younger, and I don't like being human. I like being a vampire," Katherine said.

"Are you sure you can be turned?" Caroline asked.

Katherine was the only person who had been given the cure who hadn't wanted to be human again. Even though Bonnie had used the cure as a weapon against Stefan, just as Elena had against Katherine, he had wanted to be human. Katherine was the only one who would be willing to try to turn into a vampire again after taking the cure.

"I'm sure," Katherine insisted. "I no longer have the cure in my system. I'm just an ordinary human with ordinary human blood. There's no reason why I can't be turned."

"So who wants to do the honors of murdering Katerina Petrova?" Klaus teased.

"It shouldn't be you, brother," Elijah interrupted.

"Why not?" Klaus asked.

Elijah gave a subtle nod towards Davina.

"Right," Klaus conceded.

"And for those of us who don't know the secret code?" Caroline demanded.

"A few years ago, Davina managed to unlink me from my sireline," Klaus explained. "Since Marcel locked me away not long after that, I haven't turned anyone since the spell was completed, so we have no way of knowing what happens to any new vampires I sire. I have no objection to using Katerina as a test subject, but Elijah is not in favor of the idea."

"I didn't even know that was possible," Caroline said. "And it's a good thing Stefan and Damon didn't know that either, or you would be dead."

"Of the many things that the Salvatores were ignorant of, this is the one that I'm most pleased about," Klaus agreed.

"Have you tried to reattach your sireline?" Caroline asked.

"Well, as I said, I didn't have much time as a free man after my sireline was broken off, and I was reluctant to tell anyone that it had happened, since it does make me vulnerable to enemies who would try to kill me now that they and their loved ones would be safe," Klaus answered.

"You have three powerful witches and three little magical prodigies in this room who could help if you asked. No one else has to know that your sireline was ever detached from you," Caroline pressed.

She knew that Klaus—all of the Mikaelsons, really—were relentless in the pursuit of something they wanted. If Klaus really wanted to recover his severed sireline, he would have, through any means necessary. Klaus could have easily threatened, blackmailed, and compelled anyone he needed to keep his secret, but he must have chosen not to. Caroline knew that he must have had a good reason for doing so, she just wasn't sure what it was.

"There are more pressing matters at hand, my love," Klaus dismissed. "Katerina, as my sireline has been unlinked from me, and Kol's and Finn's sirelines died at the times of their previous deaths, drink some of either Elijah's or Rebekah's blood and let us know when you're done so that we can decide who gets to kill you."

Then Klaus stormed out of the room.

Sensing that he wanted a few minutes alone, Caroline chose not to follow him.

"You'll probably need a new daylight ring," Bonnie guessed.

"Will you please make her one even uglier than mine?" Caroline requested giddily. "Payback time!"

"Payback? For what? It isn't my fault you don't like your ring," Katherine defended.

"No, but when I got my ring, Bonnie was mad at me for becoming a vampire, even though that wasn't my fault, it was yours, because you turned me without my knowledge or consent, but Bonnie still punished me for it by making me an ugly daylight ring," Caroline explained, glaring down at the square blue stone, the silver diamond-shaped decoration, and the sharp angles of the woven silver band of the ring she hated.

"I can make you a new one if you'd like," Freya offered.

"Could you really?" Caroline asked excitedly.

Freya nodded.

"Thank you so much, Freya!" Caroline exclaimed.

"You're welcome," Freya replied. "I'll just do it when Bonnie or Davina makes Katherine's."

Katherine looked down at Caroline's daylight ring.

"I'd never noticed before, but you're right, that is pretty ugly," Katherine agreed. "It doesn't suit you at all."

"Can I have a ring, too, Mommy?" Lizzie asked.

"You don't need a ring, sweetie, you have the necklace Katherine gave you," Caroline told her.

Lizzie clutched her locket.

"Okay," she relented.

All three girls skipped out of the room.

Caroline stood up to follow after them, but Katherine put her hand on her arm to stop her.

"They're fine, Caroline," Katherine insisted. "Everyone with vampire hearing is listening out for them, they can't leave the house, and I need you to help me with my pro/con list for who to turn me."

"What do you mean they can't leave the house?" Caroline asked.

"Freya did a spell on the gate, the little ones can't leave the house without an adult," Katherine explained casually.

"You didn't need to take their blood for this spell, did you?" Caroline asked Freya.

"No, of course not," Freya answered. "I just needed something that belonged to them. I used their hairbrushes, and I was finished before anyone noticed they were gone."

"Yes, yes, the children were not harmed during a spell that was cast for the purpose of protecting them," Katherine interjected impatiently. "Caroline, who do you think is less likely to be killed: Elijah or Rebekah?"

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable answering that with both of them sitting here," Caroline hedged.

"Go ahead," Rebekah permitted. "I think she'd be a perfect fit for my line. They all end up either addled or dead. Or both."

"That settles it—Rebekah is absolutely more likely to be killed, and I'm likely going to be the one who wants to kill her. I can't afford to have my life tied to my impulse control, it wouldn't end well for me," Katherine decided.

Katherine and Rebekah both turned to Elijah expectantly.

"Can I help you?" he asked formally.

"Come on, Elijah," Katherine whined.

Elijah took a glass from a cabinet and bit into his wrist, letting some of his blood drip into the glass.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elijah asked Katherine once the glass was sufficiently full.

"Yes, I'm sure," Katherine answered.

Elijah handed her the glass and took her hand. Caroline quickly took hold of her wrist, while Freya put her hand on Katherine's shoulder.

Katherine quickly drank the blood, carefully wiping her mouth so she didn't mess up her lipstick, which was a nearly identical color to the blood she'd just drunk.

Kol called out to Klaus that they were ready.

"Well? Do you want your payback, sunshine?" Katherine asked Caroline, moving her thick curly hair to one side of her neck, Caroline assumed in an attempt to make it easier for her to snap it.

"If we're being literal, getting payback for you suffocating me would mean I'd have to suffocate you. Which I don't want to do, as I know from experience that it's an awfully unpleasant way to die."

"Then that's exactly what she deserves, if she did it to you," Klaus pronounced from the doorway.

"I'm not mad anymore, I'm just saying, I could see one of you more violently inclined people wanting to kill someone slowly and painfully as revenge for something they did to harm you, but Katherine turned me for the purpose of being killed again later, you could have just snapped my neck really quick so that I wouldn't have known it was coming and I wouldn't have suffered," Caroline continued.

"Okay, are you going to kill me or not?" Katherine asked. "The point is for me to die with the vampire blood in my system, not two days from now when all of you have finished complaining about every rotten thing I've ever done to you."

"That would take longer than two days," Klaus pointed out.

"I didn't think it would take this long to get one of the Mikaelsons to kill me, I would have thought you would all be racing over here. At this rate, it might end up being Hope who kills me," Katherine joked.

Caroline knew that Katherine was just joking, though she must have known her joke would anger Klaus, and angering Klaus was almost always the quickest way to die, but Caroline still didn't like the idea of Hope potentially being forced to activate her curse at such a young age, and for such a pointless reason. Though the ideal situation was for Hope to never trigger her curse, Caroline knew that was unrealistic for a member of this family, who were always involved in supernatural skirmishes, and realized that the best she could wish for was that Hope would trigger her curse while protecting someone she loved—a far more noble way than Tyler's compulsion-induced 'accident' or Hayley's drunken vehicular manslaughter. She also knew that ironic as it might seem to be pleased that your child had committed murder, Hayley would be happy when Hope activated her curse and became a werewolf, giving them that part of themselves in common and cementing Hope's status as princess and heiress of their wolf pack and most powerful witch-werewolf hybrid to ever exist.

Klaus pushed Katherine against the wall, baring his fangs.

"Don't you ever threaten my daughter," Klaus growled in her face.

"Everyone, please calm down," Freya said. "No one wants a five-year-old werewolf running around. We will find a reasonable way to handle this situation."

"Oh, for goodness sakes," Kol griped, speeding over and snapping Katherine's neck.

Katherine crumpled unceremoniously to the floor, and Klaus backed away from her. Elijah picked her up and laid her out on the dining room table.

"And now we wait," Rebekah said.

{ }

While they waited for Katherine to regain consciousness, everyone drifted off in different directions. Freya and Bonnie went to get rings to spell as daylight rings for Katherine and Caroline. Rebekah and Kol went to steal some blood bags from a local hospital, since they weren't sure if Katherine would emerge from her second transition with the five hundred years' worth of strength and control she'd accumulated the first time she was a vampire. Davina and Finn had been tasked with monitoring Katherine's vital signs, since no one knew what turning into a vampire for a second time would do to a person's body. Elijah sat at her side, holding her hand and never taking his eyes off of her face.

The moment Katherine had fallen to the ground, Klaus had stormed upstairs to his art studio, and no one had spoken to him since.

Caroline knew that he was irritated with her for being so pushy about trying to get him to disclose the reason why he had accepted the loss of his sireline, and he was aggravated with Katherine for threatening to get Hope to kill her to start her transition, so she decided that she wouldn't seek him out just yet. In her experience with Klaus, Caroline had found that when he dealt with his anger by brooding, it was better for everyone to leave him to his own devices. Pressing him had the potential to inspire him to change tactics and instead deal with his anger by killing.

Instead, Caroline went upstairs to check on the children, and she planned to tell them what was happening, since she thought that someone should let them know that their aunt was going to be an entirely different creature when she woke up, and that she might need to keep her distance from them for a short time while she regained her control over her bloodlust.

When Caroline found the girls in Hope's room, they were creating some sort of game. Hope was drawing an intricate path on a large piece of cardstock, Josie was rolling pieces of colored paper into cylinders, and Lizzie was drawing hearts of different colors on index cards.

"What are you girls up to?" Caroline asked.

"We were getting tired of all of our board games, so we decided to make our own," Hope explained. "I'm drawing the game board, Lizzie's making the cards, and Josie's making the movers."

Josie explained that she was using a different color for each of them—bright yellow for herself, magenta purple for Lizzie, emerald green for Hope. Since Katherine had given them their lockets, they'd each claimed they'd each claimed the color of the jewel decorating theirs as their signature color.

"What color do you want, Mommy?" she asked. "You can't have red because I'm using that for Rebekah, and you can't have black because I'm using that for Katherine, but you can have any other color."

"How about pink?" Caroline asked.

Josie smiled and picked up a small piece of light pink paper.

"I'm glad you're having fun, but I actually came in here to talk to you about something important," Caroline said.

All three girls stopped what they were doing and looked at Caroline attentively.

"Katherine may not be able to play with you for a little while," Caroline started.

The girls' faces fell, and Caroline took a second to acknowledge that as scary as Katherine had been to many vampires, the three girls in front of her considered her a friend and were disappointed at the prospect of not seeing her.

"She's… sick, and she doesn't want you three to get sick, too, so she's going to keep her distance from you for a while until she feels better, okay?"

Caroline wasn't sure what Klaus and Hayley had told Hope, but she knew that at three years old, the twins were too young to understand that their members of their own family were vampires. They understood that they were witches, because they experienced that, and for their own protection and the safety of everyone around them, they needed to be aware of their magic and learn how to manage it.

But Caroline didn't think that they would react well to learning that Mommy, Auntie Bex, Uncle Kol, Elijah, and Finn needed to drink blood to survive, and that Klaus and Hayley needed to drink blood to survive and could change into wolves at will.

Hope looked suspicious at Caroline's explanation, and Caroline made a mental note to find out from Klaus what she knew about the world of the supernatural. She knew that Hope knew she was a witch, because while Hayley didn't let her use magic, she regularly talked about Hope's magic and how strong and powerful it was. Hayley also talked about Hope being a werewolf, but Caroline wasn't sure if her parents had explained to her in detail that she had inherited the werewolf gene from both of her parents, and that if she ever killed someone, she would trigger her curse and turn into a wolf every full moon. Caroline had also noticed that all of the Mikaelsons took care not to feed in front of Hope, so Caroline had no idea what Hope knew about vampires or hybrids.

Either because they were younger or because they had had more limited exposure to the supernatural in the past, the twins accepted Caroline's explanation without question.

"Okay," Josie agreed in a melancholy tone.

"But I'll play your game with you when you're finished," Caroline offered.

"Good," Lizzie smiled.

Caroline watched for a few minutes as the three girls worked together. Hope, being the oldest, had likely been the one to assign each of them their specific tasks, and had given herself the most responsibility and the task that required the most artistic skill. Josie, falling into the role of the middle child, had accepted a task that was necessary to their goal but that was not particularly exciting on its own, but she was still working diligently to make sure her work was perfect. Lizzie, as the youngest, had almost certainly insisted on coloring when she saw Hope take out the markers, and had been given a task that would allow her to do what she wanted while keeping her enthusiasm contained to one portion of their larger goal.

Her attention was pulled away from the three girls by the sound of racing footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hall, pausing in each open doorway, clearly looking for someone, and since Caroline had left all of the other adults downstairs except Klaus downstairs, she was fairly certain they were looking for her. And she was fairly certain she knew why.

"Caroline!" Davina called from the doorway. "She's awake!"

{ }

Unlike when Caroline woke up in transition, Katherine was completely calm and fully aware of what was happening to her.

She took the blood bag Rebekah offered her and drank it quickly, but not in the frantic and desperate manner in which Caroline had completed her transition.

She lifted her hands to touch the veins under her eyes and her fangs, looking pleased rather than confused and devastated like Caroline had felt.

Katherine woke from her transition in a figure-flattering outfit, fierce high heels, beautiful, bold jewelry, and flawlessly applied makeup, whereas Caroline had woken from her transition in a hospital gown, with no makeup and messy hair.

Katherine looked like Snow White waking from her enchanted sleep, while Caroline had looked like Dracula's bride emerging from the crypt.

All in all, Katherine appeared to be having an easier time with her transition than Caroline had, which of course wasn't surprising, since Katherine had been through it before, and she knew what was going to happen.

Katherine sat up carefully, surveying all of the people watching her closely.

Elijah looked tense and stressed, still refusing to look away from her face or let go of her hand. Freya looked concerned, and Bonnie looked wary. Kol looked serious, and Finn looked interested, though he kept his distance. Davina looked curious, and Rebekah looked expectant.

"I'm okay," Katherine said. When no one relaxed at her words, she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I'm fine!" she insisted.

Bonnie came forward and spelled Katherine's new daylight ring. It was gold, with a band made of three thin pieces of gold braided together, and an oval-shaped stone.

Katherine tested her new vampire speed to rush into the courtyard to test her daylight ring. She returned seconds later, perfectly healthy. Elijah looked bereft when she let go of his hand, and he snatched her hand back as soon as she came back into the room.

Freya quickly spelled and handed over Caroline's new daylight ring. It was more subtle than the one she was wearing, with its thin yet sturdy-looking gold band and round stone. On either side of the stone, there were two small solid gold hearts.

"I went with gold since I've seen you wear gold but I've never seen you wear silver, and you seem to favor warm colors over cool ones," Freya explained. "I saw this one and it seemed perfect, with the two little hearts to represent the twins."

Caroline was touched that Freya had put so much effort into choosing a ring that she thought Caroline would like.

"I love it! Thank you, Freya," Caroline said.

"You're welcome," Freya replied.

"So, how do you feel?" Rebekah asked Katherine.

"I feel great," Katherine answered. "I feel just like I did before Elena shoved the cure down my throat, except without the anger and anxiety. I feel settled. I don't have to worry about Klaus finding me and killing me, I don't care what Elena and the Salvatores are doing, I'm not running or searching for the next thing to use as leverage or to bargain for my freedom. I'm good."

Though she was still somewhat envious of how easy Katherine's transition had been, Caroline was happy for her friend. She understood feeling vulnerable as a human and feeling like you were meant to be a vampire. Like Caroline, Katherine had been preyed upon as a human and preferred being a strong immortal creature to being a weak human who could be disposed of in a heartbeat on a vampire's whim.

"Where is Klaus?" Katherine asked. "He once crossed state lines for the privilege of watching me die, and he can't come downstairs to see me become immortal again?"

"He's still holed up in his art studio, I think he's still irritated over what happened earlier with you joking about making Hope trigger her curse, which he obviously didn't find funny, and he was annoyed with me before that, so suffice it to say he isn't in a good mood," Caroline said.

Katherine seemed to accept this explanation, but she grew indignant once again when she saw who else was missing from the room.

"Where are the babies?" she demanded. "They aren't here to witness my triumphant return to vampirism, they're missing out!"

"I wasn't sure if you would go back to having five-hundred-years' worth of self-control or if you would go back to being a baby vampire who can't help herself from wanting to drink from everyone with human blood that you can reach," Caroline answered.

"Caroline, I would never hurt the girls," Katherine insisted.

"I know that you would never intentionally or willingly put them in harm's way, but I didn't know how much control you would have. I'm not sure how it works when a vampire is cured, then later turned back into a vampire. I think everyone here who has become a vampire knows that when you first transition, you're still trying to get a handle on all of your impulses and you don't necessarily make the most rational decisions. I know that I woke up, completely unaware of what had happened to me, then all of a sudden I was drinking blood and I felt better. Then later I killed someone and it felt almost instinctive, like I was now the predator rather than the prey. You have the advantage of knowing what you are and of having experience, but I couldn't risk the girls' safety in case you lost control," Caroline explained.

The other vampires and the adult witches all watched Caroline carefully as she defended her actions on the girls' behalf. Watching all of them looking at her, Caroline realized that with Klaus absent, they considered her the authority over all three girls. Neither of Hope's parents were in the room, so Caroline had apparently been named her substitute parent as she explained the decisions she'd made to help keep all of the girls safe.

"I'm not happy about it, but I guess I understand where you're coming from," Katherine relented. "Like I said, I would never hurt the girls. If you think that I might be a danger to them, then I want to give them space until we're both confident that I won't harm them, even accidentally."

"We're surrounded by Original vampires who can easily restrain you and get the girls away from you if you can't control yourself around them, but since you're controlling yourself just fine around Bonnie, Freya, and Davina, you'll probably be fine around the girls, too. I was just being overly cautious. How about you take the rest of the day to relax and readjust, and tomorrow we'll see how you feel and if you want to see them?" Caroline proposed.

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Caroline," Elijah said. "I will take Katerina to our safe house so that she can reacclimatize to being a vampire without all of us watching over her and telling her what to do, and where no innocent humans will be caught in the crossfire if something goes wrong."

Within a few minutes, Elijah and Katherine had packed overnight bags and were headed out the door, though not before Katherine and Kol exchanged plenty of innuendoes about Katherine's new vampire strength.

{ }

The next time Caroline saw Klaus was after Katherine and Elijah had left and everyone else had dispersed.

A quick glance into Hope's room told her that the girls were still hard at work creating their game, so Caroline continued to Klaus's art studio.

He was forcefully adding black paint to the background at the top of the painting he was working on. His easel was turned away from her, so Caroline couldn't see the painting in detail.

"Katherine is awake," Caroline told him.

Klaus nodded.

"All right," he acknowledged.

"I'm still going to have the girls keep their distance from her for a little while to make sure, but she seems to have regained her five-hundred-years' worth of self-control, so I don't think they're in any danger," Caroline said.

"That's prudent of you, not that I expected anything less," Klaus replied.

"I know you aren't really mad at me," Caroline continued. "You wouldn't be mad at me for being curious about an aspect of vampirism that I don't fully understand. So you must be mad about something else. Are you mad at Davina for severing your sireline in the first place?"

"Not really," Klaus answered. "Davina was very loyal to Marcel, and she thought she was doing what was best for him. I know that you like her and don't want to think poorly of her, but Davina is not a long-standing loyal ally of this family. Her love for Kol makes her loyal to him, and therefore somewhat supportive of the rest of us, but she will never try to harm Marcel, and she would go to no extraordinary effort to keep me alive."

"She adores Josie, and she admires Bonnie, and she's grateful to everyone who helped bring her back to life," Caroline countered.

"I can't imagine anyone disliking the twins, Caroline," Klaus shook his head. "And of course she admires Bonnie, the Bennetts are a famously powerful family of witches; they're practically a royal family of witches if there was such a thing. And the members of my family, besides Kol, who helped bring her back to life are the ones who were responsible for her death. She might consider them even now, but she still isn't the biggest fan of this family."

"Even without Davina's help, I'm sure that Freya and Bonnie could find a way to reattach your sireline, so why do you not want them to? I know you, and I know that when you want something, you'll find a way to make it happen, even if it takes five hundred years. If you really wanted to have your sireline connected to you again, you would find a way, so why do you want to keep your sireline severed?" Caroline asked.

"This is why," Klaus said, turning his now finished painting to face her.

The painting looked like the drawing Klaus had given her the day they had finally confessed their love for each other. She was holding the girls' hands as they descended into the basement where Klaus was being held, but in the painting, she was wearing a white dress, Lizzie was wearing a pale pink dress, and Josie was wearing a light yellow dress, and all of them appeared to radiate light. They looked like angels, glowing against the dark background of the shadowy staircase behind them.

"I don't—" Caroline stammered.

"How could you possibly not understand, Caroline?" Klaus demanded impatiently. "Of course I could convince Freya and Bonnie to find a way to get my sireline back. Of course I could threaten or blackmail Davina into reversing the spell. But I have chosen to do none of those things because hidden amongst the devastation I felt as my sireline was severed from me was the relief of knowing that you were free. I knew that my many enemies were closing in, and the only thing that gave me even a moment's respite from the growing anxiety and paranoia as they did was the realization that no matter what happened to me, you would be safe."

Caroline gasped and felt her eyes well up with tears as Klaus made his reasoning for not exploring the possibility of regaining his sireline clear.

"The spell was cast just after I spoke to you on the phone after the twins were born. I knew that you loved them, even if at the time you refused to admit it, and so you would have been heartbroken to leave them without you, without a mother, so soon after losing your own mother. Now even if something were to happen to me—"

"Don't say that!" Caroline cried.

"Even if something were to happen to me," Klaus continued. "You and the girls would be safe. Do you truly not know how much I love you, Caroline? That it would be the most horrific punishment to not only not be able to give my life for the woman I love, as I was taught a man did in my time, but that my death, under any circumstances, would lead to yours? Now that you being a part of my sireline will not prevent me from doing so, there are no circumstances under which I would not gladly sacrifice my life for you and our daughters."

"I love you so much," Caroline whispered, throwing herself into Klaus's arms.

Klaus caught her and held her close to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

"I was frustrated earlier that you didn't see right away that I allowed my sireline to be severed from me was because it would ensure your safety. I thought that I had made it clear that I would do anything for you, and when you didn't seem to understand, I worried that I hadn't been clear enough that I love you and everything I do is to keep you safe and happy."

"I know," Caroline whispered, laying her head on Klaus's shoulder. "Freya told me about Stefan when we went shopping the other day. About how you risked your family's safety to rescue him just because you thought it would make me happy. I knew that you would try to keep your promise to me, but I didn't expect you to do that."

"Of course I would do whatever I could to make you happy," Klaus answered. "I certainly didn't do it for Stefan, I didn't get as much as a thank you from him. He just proved himself to be unworthy of you, quizzed me about my feelings for you, and essentially told me that he was looking forward to never seeing me again."

"And what did you say to that?" Caroline asked, looking up at him.

"I told him that he would never have to see me again as long as he treated you right," Klaus responded. "He told me that he loved you, and that he knew that I had as well, incorrectly assuming that I had stopped loving you in the years we had been apart. When he'd asked me earlier if I still had feelings for you, I didn't give him a straight answer, not wanting to start a fight or cause you any trouble when he was able to return, and with New Orleans crawling with my enemies, I wanted you safe and happy as far away from the city, and anyone who would hurt you to get to me, as possible. But I've never been as disappointed on your behalf as I was when Stefan admitted that he'd been struck by the Hunter's Sword while defending Damon, and not you as I had assumed, since you were the only person I knew in Stefan's life who would be worth making that sacrifice."

"Stefan lived protecting Damon, and he died protecting Damon," Caroline sighed. "Are you really surprised?"

"I wasn't surprised by his behavior, but I was surprised that you tolerated it for so long," Klaus answered. "I must say, I was little hurt and insulted that you'd chosen to be with him instead of being with me. Was the idea of a relationship with me so revolting to you that settling for third place behind Damon and Elena, while Stefan risked his relationship with you and even your life to save his brother and his girlfriend was preferable to you?"

"I wasn't thinking of it that way," Caroline replied, lifting her head so that she could look Klaus in the eye as she spoke. "I didn't see it as a competition between you and him. I wasn't ready for you and everything you represented, but I was alone and I wanted someone to love me and Stefan was there and he felt safe. As much as you loved me even then, you weren't there, and you had your own problems to deal with and enough people to worry about without me adding myself to the list."

"So if Stefan had never become human, if your wedding hadn't become a ploy to lure out Katherine, you would have married him and lived happily ever after, without ever giving me another thought?" Klaus asked.

"No," Caroline answered matter-of-factly. "I can't say for certain that I would have left him for you, but I know that there's no way I would have never thought about you. And as morbid as it sounds, I think that it would have only been a matter of time before Stefan wound up in another situation where he would sacrifice himself for Damon or Elena or both. And even if he hadn't, eventually we would have had to leave Mystic Falls before people realized that we weren't aging, and I'm sure Damon wouldn't have wanted to leave Elena, and Stefan wouldn't have wanted to leave Damon and Elena. We would have fought, and he would have tried to convince me how important Damon and Elena were to me and how we needed to stay to support them, and I would have given him an ultimatum: either stay with them, or leave with me, and he would have chosen to stay. You're right, he never loved me as much as he loved the two of them, but I thought that I could live with that at the time, and now I know that I don't want to settle anymore. As far as I'm concerned, every possible path my life could take would lead me here to you."

"I would like to believe that as well," Klaus responded.

"Then believe it!" Caroline exclaimed, taking a small step backwards so that she could hold both his hands in hers. "You know that I love you, why isn't that enough? Why are you so upset by the fact that I've had other relationships and loved other people in the past? I love you, and it doesn't matter that you weren't my first love because you're my last."

Klaus spun Caroline around so that she was facing the painting again, leaning against him with his arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Look," he told her. "You are my angel and my light. You are so perfect, and beautiful, and intelligent, and loving, and kind, and generous, that I cannot fault other men for falling in love with you. It would be more outrageous to me if they hadn't. I am envious of everyone who received your love in return, but I know for certain that I love you more than any of them ever did."

Caroline turned back around in Klaus's arms so that she could kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did so and feeling his arms move to encircle her waist.

When she pulled away, she lowered her arms to wrap around his waist and laid her head back down on his shoulder.

As the setting sun streamed through the window, the evening light shone on Klaus's painting, making Caroline and the twins appear to glow even brighter for a moment.

Klaus tightened his arms around her and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head, causing Caroline to nestle further into him and close her eyes in contentment.

When she opened them again, she could have sworn that the painting in front of her had changed. She and the twins were wearing black dresses instead of the pale-colored ones they'd worn earlier, and the glowing light behind them was gone. But the change that scared Caroline the most was that their hands were coated in blood, and her vampire features were out.

Caroline quickly swung her head around to look at Klaus and see if he'd seen the painting change as well, but he appeared completely calm, so Caroline didn't mention it, and wrote it off as just the glare from the sun distorting the colors.

When she looked at the painting again, it was back to normal.

* * *

What was that? If you have any theories/predictions, I would love to hear them! Be on the lookout for other weird things like that in upcoming chapters, I think this is the sort of thing that comes in threes…

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	20. Chapter XX: Coming and Going

Hello everyone!

We've made it to the milestone of twenty chapters, which I think is very exciting!

Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter! Also, thank you for all of your name suggestions, and thank you especially to Artemis for all of your help with name ideas! I find it amusing that those of you who are suggesting names for a boy tend to stick to the same few names, whereas the name suggestions for a girl are quite varied. I'm not telling which they're having yet, but I will dispel the notion that they're having one of each… Caroline will not get pregnant with twins, again.

A guest reviewer made an astute observation about how Hope's lack of magical training may have consequences. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hope's magical inexperience have a negative effect on her or someone she cares about sooner rather than later.

Alaric returns this chapter, and I know some of you weren't happy that he is moving to New Orleans, but he still won't be a large part of the story. He won't be in every chapter, and in the chapters he is in, it will be in a mostly periphery role.

I think that's all I have to say… wow, this author's note is short.

Happy reading!

* * *

Caroline did not consider herself an expert on parenting by any means. After three years, she had picked up a few tricks that helped with her children, but she wouldn't say that she was qualified to give advice to any other parents.

In recent weeks, she'd learned how to adjust to being a single parent with her children's other parent living in another state. She'd had help, of course, but she was still the only parent her daughters had within a hundred miles of them for weeks at a time.

As stressful as it could be, Caroline had never had a role that was as fulfilling as being a mother. Her babies were her pride and joy, and one smile from Lizzie or one laugh from Josie made all of the exhausting and challenging moments worth it.

Today was one of the stressful days. Caroline had spent the past twenty minutes practically playing tug-of-war with her daughter using her own hair as a rope, just trying to get the girl to sit still, while her other daughter cheerfully ignored her request to get dressed with the fluttering of her lashes that always ensured she got her way from everyone else in the house.

Josie had decided that she wanted her hair braided, then immediately decided that she didn't have the patience to sit still long enough for Caroline to finish doing her hair.

All three girls were impatient and excitable, since Alaric was due to arrive in New Orleans that day.

He'd called two days earlier, letting Caroline and the twins know that he had found a house to rent, and he could move in on the first of the month. Caroline had offered to pick him up from the airport, and she was now trying to get the girls ready so that they could leave.

Lizzie was running around the room wearing her Sleeping Beauty costume, which she wanted to wear to the airport. Hope, both because Alaric wasn't her father, and because she was almost two years older than the twins, was a little calmer, but she was still chattering rapidly, firing questions about Alaric at Caroline at an inhuman speed.

Caroline reached the end of Josie's braid and the end of her patience at approximately the same time.

"Where is the hair tie I gave you?" Caroline asked Josie, who looked away sheepishly.

"You used it as a slingshot, didn't you?" Caroline guessed.

Josie nodded guiltily.

"You girls turn into little hellions when you're excited," Caroline shook her head. "Lovebug, will you hand me one of the hair ties on the dresser, please?"

Hope gave Caroline a blue hair elastic to match the belt on Josie's dress.

"An hour ago, when I said that I would get the girls ready? That was a very poor idea on my part, I should not have done that," Caroline said to herself.

With Josie's hair done, Caroline turned her attention to getting Lizzie dressed in street clothes rather than a Disney princess costume. It took ten minutes of arguing, but Caroline managed to get Lizzie to change into a pale pink sleeveless dress with a white polka-dot print and a burgundy belt around her waist, and grey t-strap shoes.

All three girls had decided to dress up to meet Alaric at the airport. Hope, insistent on making a good first impression, was wearing a sea green dress and navy Mary Jane shoes. Josie was wearing a dress with a white eyelet top, a royal blue ribbon belt, and a light yellow skirt, and navy blue Mary Janes that matched Hope's.

Caroline was checking over the girls to make sure that they were ready when she heard footsteps approaching the open door.

"How are my girls? Are we ready to go?" Klaus asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"A year ago, I never would have thought I'd say this, but yours is being the best behaved right now," Caroline answered. "The twins have become hyper little pixies who refuse to sit still. I only need a few minutes to change, but I wasn't willing to take the risk of them using that time to literally start bouncing off the walls."

"Go ahead, I'll watch them," Klaus offered, putting on a stern facial expression.

Caroline had to resist the urge to laugh. Klaus may be the most feared creature in the supernatural world, but when it came to their three girls, he was a pushover who would do anything to make them happy.

Caroline rushed into her bathroom and quickly changed into the bronze-colored dress that Freya had picked out for her on their recent shopping trip. She slipped on a pair of black ballet flats and took her purse from a hook on the door.

"Okay, let's go," Caroline said.

As the girls ran ahead of her, Caroline noticed that Josie's hair had already come undone.

"Josie, what happened with your hair?" Caroline asked.

"I took it down," Josie confessed. "Hope and Lizzie have their hair down and I wanted mine to match theirs."

"Okay," Caroline sighed.

"Relax, love," Klaus said, taking her hand. "Everything is going to be fine, no matter how Josie decides to wear her hair."

"I know," Caroline said. "I just wish we weren't so rushed to get to the airport on time, and we wouldn't be if I hadn't taken the time to do Josie's hair, which I wouldn't have if I'd known that she would take it down after ten minutes."

As they passed the dining room, Rebekah and Bonnie darted out.

"Are you going to the airport now?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes," Caroline answered. Seeing the look on Rebekah's face, she immediately continued, "No, no one else can come. It's stressful enough moving to a new city without the Mikaelson welcoming committee."

"Nik gets to come," Rebekah complained.

"The twins wanted Hope to come," Caroline explained. "And Klaus wouldn't let Hope go unless he came along."

"Fine," Rebekah sighed. "Are you bringing him back here to meet everyone? I get the impression that most parents would want to meet the people that his children are living with."

"And you said that we didn't need cable," Caroline teased Klaus. "Now that you mention it, I think we should make a stop here before we bring him to his new house."

"All right," Klaus said. "But we should get going so that we aren't late."

"We'll be back in a little while," Caroline called, so that all of the vampires in the house, and the hopefully-nearby witches would be able to hear her.

{ }

When Alaric saw them waiting for him, he looked surprised to see Klaus. Caroline couldn't blame him, since she hadn't told him in advance that Klaus would be coming with her. At least he didn't seem annoyed or angry that Klaus was there.

"Hi girls!" Alaric greeted the twins enthusiastically, hugging them both.

"Hello, Caroline," he said in a much more reserved tone. "Thank you for coming."

"Hi, Ric, it's good to see you," Caroline replied.

Alaric looked down at Hope.

"And you must be the littlest Mikaelson," Alaric said.

"I'm Hope," she answered.

"It's nice to meet you, Hope," Alaric told her.

"Klaus," Alaric stated.

"Alaric, how are you?" Klaus responded.

"Fine, thank you," Alaric said.

Alaric took the handle of his suitcase in one hand and Josie's hand in the other.

"Is that all the luggage you have?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, I shipped everything else to the house yesterday, so it should get there by tomorrow," he answered. "I'm ready to go if you are."

Caroline took Lizzie's hand, and Klaus took Hope's as they made their way to the parking garage.

When they got to Klaus's car, the girls scrambled into the very backseat so that they could sit together, leaving Alaric to sit alone in the middle row.

"So, we thought you might want to stop by the house and see where we live, and meet everyone," Caroline told Alaric.

"Sure, we can do that," Alaric agreed.

The adults didn't talk much for the rest of the drive back to the Mikaelson's house, though the girls kept up a steady stream of chatter among themselves in the backseat.

Alaric was very obviously trying not to look impressed with the mansion in which Klaus and his family lived. He was clearly not happy that where the girls lived with Caroline and Klaus was far nicer and larger than the house they would live in with him.

Everyone had gathered in the dining room in a way that Caroline knew had been orchestrated by Rebekah to look casual, but had missed the mark. Caroline was surprised to see Hayley and Jackson with them, and quickly looked to Klaus to see his reaction. He just nodded, letting her know that he had approved this momentary respite on Hayley's banishment.

Hope took off running for her mother and stepfather as soon as she saw them, while the twins chose to stay with their parents.

Klaus stepped forward to make the introductions.

"I know that you already know my sister Rebekah, and my brothers Elijah and Kol—" each of them nodded and waved as Klaus said their name. "But I don't know if you know my eldest brother Finn—" Klaus pointed at Finn, who nodded in acknowledgement. "And I know you've never met my older sister Freya," Freya smiled and waved at Alaric when Klaus pointed to her.

"I'm sure you know Katherine, and that's Davina next to Kol, and with Hope is her mother Hayley, and Hayley's husband Jackson," Klaus continued.

"Hello, everyone," Alaric said without much enthusiasm.

"Come on, you have to see our room!" Josie said, tugging on Alaric's hand.

Hope, still holding Hayley's hand, ran to catch up with them, while Caroline and Klaus trailed after them.

While the girls pulled Alaric around the twins' room, showing him all of their toys and clothes and furniture, the other adults stood awkwardly in the doorway.

When Hayley tucked her hair behind her ear, Caroline noticed a flash of silver as her left hand moved through the air.

"Congratulations," Caroline said.

Hayley looked confused for a second, then looked down at her hand self-consciously.

"Oh! Thank you," Hayley replied, holding out her hand for Caroline to inspect the ring she was wearing. Caroline smiled inwardly at the idea of Hayley performing such a classically girly gesture as showing off her engagement ring to everyone who noticed it. Caroline had done the same thing herself when she had been engaged.

Hayley's ring was white gold, with one large emerald cut diamond, with two smaller emeralds of the same cut on either side of it, and two even smaller emerald cut diamonds on either side of them, all set on a plain, sturdy-looking band.

"It's beautiful, and it really suits you, Jackson must know you really well," Caroline offered.

The ring really did suit Hayley. It was strong, fierce, and bold, just like Hayley. The straight lines and sharp corners of the rectangular shapes of the five stones reflected Hayley's assertive, unyielding, tomboy personality. The green emeralds were Hayley's favorite color and paid tribute to the color of her eyes. The number of gems was a reference to Hope's current age. The emerald cut of the diamonds had fewer facets than any other cut, which was perfect for Hayley, who despised all things sparkly and girly.

"Thanks, Caroline," Hayley said.

"Is that the same ring that Jackson gave you before you were married, or is it new?" Caroline asked.

"It's new," Hayley answered. "I stopped wearing the old one after he died; it didn't feel right to keep wearing it. Now that Jackson is alive again, and now that we're back together, and we're still married, he decided to propose again, sort of. And I like this ring a lot more than the other one."

"I'm happy for you, Hayley," Caroline smiled.

"Really?" Hayley and Klaus asked simultaneously.

"Of course I am!" Caroline insisted. "Why wouldn't I be happy for you, Hayley? You're back together with your husband, you two are the king and queen of the werewolves, you're living happily ever after together in your kingdom with you loyal wolf subjects, you have a beautiful daughter, you're no longer in a tumultuous relationship with your daughter's uncle, and you only have to deal with the Mikaelsons during council meetings and when you pick up or drop off Hope. You're free, and you're surrounded by people who love and understand you, which is what I think you've always wanted."

"I don't understand why you're being so nice to me," Hayley said.

"I'm a nice person," Caroline replied.

"But I haven't been a very nice person to you," Hayley reminded her.

"I'm well aware of that," Caroline responded. "But I'm not going to change who I am because you treated me poorly. I am a nice person, regardless of how not nice you were to me. You don't get to take that away from me. I won't let you have that much power over me."

"You're the axe murderer of the 'kill them with kindness' set," Hayley stated.

"I think you've learned your lesson when it comes to hurting me or my daughters, and I think it's very unlikely that you'll do anything to hurt us again," Caroline shrugged. "From here on out, I just want to be civil. I don't know if I'll ever trust you enough to be friends, but you're Hope's mother, so we're always going to be in each other's lives. I'll be nice to you, and as long as you're nice to me in return, we shouldn't have any problems."

Hayley nodded.

The girls ran over, having shown Alaric absolutely everything in their room.

"Ready to go then?" Caroline asked.

The girls nodded enthusiastically, racing down the hallway, pausing only briefly when they approached the stairs.

"Be careful on the stairs!" Alaric called out. "How old is this house anyway?" he asked Klaus.

"It was built after I was forced to flee the city, I couldn't tell you the exact dates of its construction," Klaus answered.

Alaric looked annoyed at Klaus's response. Caroline did feel sorry for Alaric, knowing what it felt like to be the one who was constantly rejected, but she was hoping that he wouldn't try to start a fight with Klaus over his fear that both she and the twins had chosen Klaus over him.

"Hope, are you going with them to Alaric's house, or are you staying here?" Hayley asked.

"I want to go, Mom," Hope said.

"That's fine," Hayley replied, looking at Klaus warily. "If you aren't going to be here, then Jackson and I have to go, so I guess I'll just say goodbye now."

Hope gave her mother a hug, then they did some sort of secret handshake. Then they met up with Jackson, who also hugged Hope, then Hayley and Jackson left.

"Why do they have to leave if Hope is leaving?" Alaric asked.

"Hayley isn't allowed in the house," Caroline answered. "Hayley was the one who told Marcel about the twins' magic, so as punishment, Klaus has banned her from the house. This was an exception, since it makes sense for you to meet everyone, and Hope is a big part of the twins' lives, and Hayley is a big part of Hope's life, but no one wanted to take you all the way out to the bayou where Hayley and Jackson live."

"All right, then," Alaric said uncertainly.

"And you thought we had a tense relationship," Caroline told him.

Alaric just shook his head before getting into the car.

{ }

Alaric's house was a modest, three-bedroom single-story home about twenty minutes from the Mikaelsons'.

The front yard was small, the cream paint covering the exterior of the house was dull and faded, and the tree in the front yard needed to be trimmed.

It was a far cry from the huge house with the courtyard, the studios, and the offices that the Mikaelsons lived in, but the twins didn't seem to mind, because they went running enthusiastically to the door.

While Klaus helped Alaric bring in his luggage, Caroline and the girls explored the house.

The kitchen was small and dated, but warm, with sunlight streaming in through the windows, and bright ivory walls and light wood cabinets. The floor and the countertops were both black and white tile, and the appliances were black. There wasn't enough room for a table in the kitchen, but there was breakfast bar where the girls could sit on stools and watch as Alaric cooked for them.

There was a dining room painted a pale celery green, with a light wood table and a simple silver light fixture hanging above it. The sheer white curtains hanging from the room's windows matched the ones that had been used in the kitchen. The girls stopped to sit in every chair at the dining room table, and though there were only six, all three of them taking turns made the process take a while. The same paint color continued into the living room, which was stuffed with a couch, two chairs, a television perched on top of a cabinet, and a bookshelf tucked in the corner. The girls sat on the couch and both chairs, declaring them all comfortable when they were finished.

The smallest bedroom, located in the front of the house, tucked into a corner behind the front door, had been allocated as Alaric's office. Inside, there was a desk, a computer and a printer set on a small table, and more bookshelves. Unlike the other rooms, Alaric's office wasn't light or open. The curtains were drawn, and the walls were painted a neutral brown, making the room look even smaller than it actually was.

On the other side of the living room was the twins' bedroom. There were two dressers, two desks, and two twin-sized beds—one covered with a white bedspread patterned with bright purple stripes, the other white with bright pink polka dots. The girls spent the most time in that room, each claiming their bed and the furniture closest to it, then kicking off their shoes and jumping on the bed, though Caroline ordered them to stop almost immediately. The room reminded Caroline of a dorm room, with Lizzie's bed pressed up against the right wall and Josie's pushed against the left one, with the room's one large window between them.

Caroline didn't venture into Alaric's room, waiting in the hallway while the twins went inside, listening to them chatter and giggle as she watched Klaus and Alaric sit at the dining room table. Hope waited in the hallway with Caroline until she saw her father, then she opted to join him instead.

The twins ran back out of Alaric's room and collapsed onto the couch in the living room. Caroline sat down on the chair next to them, so that she could see the twins as well as Klaus, Hope, and Alaric in the dining room.

"Well, girls, what do you think?" Alaric asked.

"I like our room," Lizzie said.

"Yeah, me too!" Josie echoed.

"Would you like to sleep in your new room tonight?" Alaric asked them.

Both girls agreed enthusiastically.

"Can we, Mommy?" Josie asked.

Caroline saw Alaric wince at Josie's request and knew that he felt insulted that one of his daughters was asking her mother's permission to spend the night at her father's house.

"Of course you can," Caroline agreed immediately, trying to reassure Alaric. "I just have to go back to the house and get you some things, since everything from your dad's house is still being shipped. Do you want to come with me and pick out your own clothes, or do you want to stay here with your dad and I'll pick for you?" Caroline asked.

"Stay," the twins said quickly, not looking forward to more time spent in the car.

"Okay," Caroline replied. "When I get back, we should plan out a more permanent schedule for them, and arrange for them to move some of their toys and clothes, things like that, over here," she told Alaric, who nodded in agreement.

As Caroline was sure was a habit at that point, Klaus put his hand on the small of her back and guided her as they walked out to the car. Hope crawled into the backseat of the car, the two empty car seats next to hers looking lonely without the twins to fill them.

{ }

Hope scurried into the dining room as soon as they passed through the gate, so she wasn't with them when it happened.

Klaus and Caroline were walking upstairs to the twins' room when the bannister splintered off and clattered to the ground.

Klaus's arms banded tightly around Caroline's waist, pulling her close against him and away from the edge of the stairs, as they both looked down in shock at the railing that used to be attached to the staircase. She let out a sigh of relief that this hadn't happened when any of the girls were going up or down the stairs, or they might have lost their balance and fallen without anything there to catch them.

Elijah, Kol, Davina, Katherine, and Bonnie appeared below the stairs, drawn by the noise the bannister had made when it had fallen.

"How did that happen?" Katherine asked, warily approaching the stairs.

Katherine had readjusted to being a vampire well, though she was still limiting her time around the three children, just to be safe. She was relishing in her recently returned vampire abilities, and had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that she no longer had the strength of a five-hundred-year-old vampire.

Elijah crouched down and examined the wood. If she hadn't been so tense, Caroline would have laughed at the image of Elijah kneeling on the ground in his suit.

"The wood is very damaged," Elijah declared. "We're lucky that this didn't come toppling down earlier, when one of the children was on the stairs or in the courtyard and might have been hurt."

"How did we not notice this sooner?" Klaus asked.

"I don't know about you, Nik, but I don't go around investigating the stairs every day," Kol answered.

Caroline rushed up the stairs and into the twins' bedroom, quickly packing a change of clothes, pajamas, toiletries, their stuffed animals, a few toys and games, and other essentials into their bags.

"Are you all right?" Klaus asked from behind her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Caroline answered without looking up. "I was taken by surprise, but the bannister can't hurt me, and I'm just glad none of the girls were close enough to get hurt."

"If you're sure you're okay," Klaus sighed.

"I'm okay," Caroline repeated. "You should probably get someone to check the rest of the house for termites, though."

Klaus sensed that Caroline didn't want to talk about what had happened, that she just wanted to do what she'd come back to the house to do, and then get back to her daughters.

Klaus grabbed the girls' bags from Caroline when she was finished packing them.

They used the other staircase going downstairs.

{ }

"We're back!" Caroline called out as she opened the unlocked front door of Alaric's house.

The girls came running to the door when they heard Caroline's voice. They took their bags and hurried to put their things in their new room.

"Is that all that you brought?" Alaric asked.

"Once we figure out a plan for how much time the girls will be spending at each house, we can divide their stuff accordingly," Caroline proposed.

They both sat at the table, ready to negotiate.

Klaus, hovering in the doorway, looked more awkward than Caroline had ever seen him. He was clearly unsure of whether he should stay or go, even though Caroline and Alaric knew that he would be able to hear their discussion from anywhere in the house thanks to his vampire hearing.

"You might as well sit down," Alaric told him. "I know you're going to listen either way, so I'd rather be able to see you doing it."

Klaus sat hesitantly next to Caroline.

"Let's start with your class schedule and work around that," Caroline suggested.

"That sounds reasonable," Alaric agreed. "I'm teaching five classes this semester. I have one class that meets from ten to twelve on Monday and Wednesday mornings, one class that meets from two to four on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, one class that meets from eight to ten on Tuesdays and Thursdays, one class that meets from twelve to two on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one class that meets from eight to noon on Fridays," Alaric rattled off. "Plus I'll have office hours, and department meetings, and study sessions."

"Would any of those things be on Friday?" Caroline asked.

"No, the department meeting I know is scheduled for first thing Monday morning," Alaric made a face to show how unhappy he was with that arrangement. "And I plan to schedule my office hours for between my classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays."

"Then how about you take the girls for the weekends when you can actually spend time with them?" Caroline hesitantly suggested. "You can pick them up after your class on Friday is over, and then drop them back off on your way to work on Monday, or on Sunday night before their bedtime, whichever you prefer. Plus, I can bring them here during our council meetings, which will give you even more time with them."

"What about holidays?" Alaric asked.

"You are more than welcome to come celebrate them with us," Caroline invited. "Then the girls can spend holidays with their entire family, and they never have to try to remember whether it's Christmas or Thanksgiving that they're spending with their dad."

"I don't want them to feel worried or stressed out about this," Alaric said. "This arrangement makes sense. I can get all of my work done on days that I have classes so that I can just focus on the girls when they're here."

"Will you be able to keep your schedule similar next semester?" Caroline asked.

"It shouldn't be a problem to have most, if not all, of my classes Monday through Thursday," Alaric answered. "Apparently students avoid Friday classes almost as much as they avoid early morning classes, so the university doesn't schedule a lot of them."

"Okay," Caroline said. "Then on Friday, I will drop the twins off here, and I'll pack up some of their clothes and toys to keep here, so they don't have to pack every week unless they want to bring something specific with them."

Klaus, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, stood up, placing his hand on Caroline's shoulder.

"You look like you've got everything under control here, so I'm just going to say goodbye to the girls so that I'm ready to leave whenever you are," Klaus said before walking out of the room.

"It's weird seeing him with you, and with the girls," Alaric commented. "For so long, he was supposed to be our enemy, and now he's your boyfriend, and practically a stepfather to the girls, and it's weird to see how much everything has changed."

"We've all changed," Caroline responded. "You used to be my history teacher, and Jenna's boyfriend, and Elena's guardian. I used to be a cheerleader, and Miss Mystic Falls, and the person who was always everyone's last choice. Now Stefan is dead, Elena is in a coma, Damon is human, you've died and come back to life more times than I can count… We've all saved what we could, and for me, that was the twins and Bonnie, and now we're all just trying to start over, and figure out what normal is now."

"Speaking of Stefan," Alaric started, taking an envelope out of a kitchen drawer. "I found this while I was packing everything up, and I didn't know what you would want to do with it, but it belongs to you, so I didn't want to get rid of it or leave it behind in case you wanted it."

Caroline opened the envelope to see a ring.

Her engagement ring.

Caroline hadn't been expecting to see this again, and she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it. She couldn't save it for the girls, since she had two daughters and only one ring. It would be weird to give it to Hope, or Bonnie, or Katherine, or Rebekah. But she wasn't sure she wanted it either, not now that she was over Stefan and in love with Klaus. But it didn't feel right to throw it away or give it to a stranger either.

"Thanks, for this," Caroline said. "I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet."

"I understand," Alaric said.

Alaric probably understood better than anyone. He'd lost his wife and the mother of his children, only a few years after losing his girlfriend, which happened only months after he'd found out what had really happened to cause him to lose his first wife.

"I'm sorry," Caroline apologized hastily. "I shouldn't be complaining to you. I really have nothing to complain about. I'm happy, I'm healthy, my children are happy and healthy."

"You still lost someone you cared about," Alaric pointed out. "It's okay to be sad about that. It wasn't like he was sick and you had time to prepare yourself, and it wasn't like he was murdered and you can get justice by going after the murderer, and it wasn't like it was an accident and you can curse your rotten luck for allowing this to happen. It's okay to be angry, and hurt, and whatever else you've felt since he died."

"I appreciate that," Caroline said. "But I'm not sad or hurt or angry anymore. Stefan prioritized Damon and Elena over me in his death just as he did in his life, and I've come to terms with that. I just honestly don't know what to do with this. I don't want to wear it, but there's no one I can give it to, but I don't want to just throw it away, but I don't want to keep it either, and I can't save it for one of the girls but not the other."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Alaric reassured her.

"Thanks," Caroline said. "I'm going to say goodbye to the girls, and then we'll be out of your way."

When Caroline stepped into the twins' room, Klaus left it, telling her briefly that he was going to go wait in the car. She spent a few minutes hugging the girls and telling them to behave before she left as well, telling herself that she would have to get used to spending time away from her daughters.

{ }

The car ride home was eerily quiet.

Klaus seemed irritated, and Caroline didn't know what to say.

"Are you all right?" he asked, surprising her.

"I'm fine, I just thought that you were annoyed with me," Caroline said.

"I'm not annoyed with you, I'm just trying to be respectful of your relationship with Alaric. His presence serves as a reminder that as much as I love them, the twins are not my children, and I need to step back and let him have his time with them," Klaus answered. "This is an adjustment for me, too, but before I think about that, I want to make sure that you're okay with letting the twins stay with Alaric tonight, and every weekend from now on."

Caroline was appalled by her lack of sensitivity and empathy. She'd been so preoccupied with her own feelings regarding the twins staying with Alaric, that she hadn't even considered Klaus's feelings. She knew how much Klaus loved the twins, and she mentally berated herself for not acknowledging how Klaus felt about them spending time with their father. As much as she loved Klaus for always putting her needs before his own, she felt awful for not even realizing that he must have been almost as upset as she had been at the prospect of the twins not being with them all of the time anymore.

"I'm so sorry, I should've tried to make this easier for you," Caroline replied. "I don't love being away from the twins, but I know Alaric doesn't either, and I need to be fair to him."

"Did the thing he gave you upset you?" Klaus asked.

"No, not really," Klaus gave her a questioning look. "Alaric found my engagement ring, the one Stefan gave me, and I don't know what I want to do with it."

They had reached the mansion and Caroline darted out of the car as soon as Klaus parked in the garage.

"I can't tell you what to do with it," Klaus said. "I wouldn't keep it, but as Elijah pointed out recently, we aren't exactly sentimental. I can tell you that once you live for over a hundred years, material objects start to lose their meaning. You still acquire things because you want them, or you like the way they look, but it's less likely that you'll purchase or keep things for purely sentimental value."

"I hadn't thought about it like that," Caroline said.

Klaus held open the gate for Caroline.

"You aren't old enough to think about it like that," Klaus remarked. "I'm sure you'll do this anyway, but you'll probably want to consult with Rebekah to help you decide. She's probably the best person to ask what to do."

"Rebekah's the best person to ask about what?" the vampire in question rushed down the stairs after hearing her name.

"I have to talk to you," Caroline replied. "And Freya, and Katherine, and Bonnie."

Only seconds later, Katherine appeared in the courtyard, one hand wrapped around Freya's wrist, the other around Bonnie's.

"Caroline said she needed to talk to us," Katherine explained to the bewildered-looking witches.

Leaving Klaus in the courtyard, they climbed the staircase that still had the banister attached and went into Caroline's room, all of them sitting on the bed like the sleepovers Caroline remembered from high school.

"Alaric gave me this, and I don't know what to do with it," Caroline announced without preamble, opening the envelope and pulling out the ring.

"He proposed?!" Freya exclaimed, baffled.

"What? No, of course not. This is the ring that Stefan gave me. Alaric found it when he was packing and gave it back to me today," Caroline explained.

"Oh, Care," Bonnie said, reaching out to take Caroline's hand.

"I don't know what to do with it. I don't want to wear it. I don't want to just throw it away. I don't want to give it to anyone I know, but I don't want to give it to a stranger, either. I can't give it to the girls when they're older, because there are two of them and only one ring. I don't know what to do with it," Caroline said.

Caroline held the ring between her index finger and her thumb so that she could examine it. The ring was white gold, with a cushion-cut diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds hugging its round corners and ever so slightly rounded sides. Looking at this ring used to make Caroline happy, and now it didn't. Now something about the ring felt wrong. It wasn't the person who gave it to her, or the circumstances under which he gave it to her, or the fact that he was now dead, that felt wrong, it was the ring itself.

When Caroline mentioned this to the other girls, they were equally uncertain as to what was causing her dissatisfaction.

"You were so happy with it when he first gave it to you," Bonnie commented.

"When was the last time you saw the ring?" Freya asked.

"When I took it off and left it behind before I ran away from my wedding and drove to New Orleans," Caroline answered.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Katherine cut in. "I mean, it isn't the Hope Diamond or anything, but there's nothing offensive about it."

"I don't know, maybe it just seems weird to me that my engagement ring reappears the day that Hayley shows me her new engagement ring," Caroline trailed off.

She knew why her ring suddenly seemed off somehow. Like Katherine said, there was nothing wrong with it. It wasn't peculiar, or ugly, or tarnished. It was perfectly ordinary, and Caroline hadn't even noticed, or seen anything wrong with that until she'd seen Hayley's ring that day.

"That's what it is," Caroline said simply. "I saw Hayley's ring today, and the first thing I thought was that it was perfect for her. Everything from the number of diamonds, to the shape, to the band was painstakingly chosen to perfectly suit her."

"And yours doesn't suit you?" Rebekah guessed.

"No," Caroline shook her head. "It doesn't suit me, but it doesn't not suit me either. Like Katherine said, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just sort of ordinary. It's one-size-fits-all. There are probably thousands of women who could wear this and be totally happy with it. It's nice, and I like it, but it isn't like, 'oh my goodness, my fiancé knows me so well; I can't imagine any other ring on the planet suiting me better than this one.' And I think that if you want to marry someone and spend the rest of your life with them, then you should have been paying enough attention and know them well enough to know how they take their coffee, and whether or not they're a morning person, and what kind of engagement ring they would love and happily wear for the rest of their lives!"

Caroline looked down at her right hand.

"Freya put more effort into choosing a daylight ring she thought I would like than Stefan put into choosing this. Stefan clearly didn't painstakingly search the jewelry store for a ring with five stones, because that's how old my daughter is, or one with emeralds, because green is my favorite color. He just picked one he thought looked nice and that was the end of it."

"Jackson really did that?" Freya asked, sounding impressed.

"Didn't you see Hayley's ring when she was here earlier?" They all shook their heads. "It's perfect for her," Caroline told them. "It has an emerald cut diamond, then smaller emeralds on either side of it, then even smaller emerald cut diamonds on either side of them, on a plain, solid white gold band."

"That does sound perfect for Hayley," Rebekah conceded.

"Why are we still talking about her?" Katherine whined. "Let's refocus on the person we are supposed to be discussing, which is you, Caroline. What do you want to do with the ring?"

"Why, do you want it?" Caroline asked, only partly joking.

"No," Katherine retorted immediately. "Even if I wanted Stefan, I wouldn't want the ring he gave you."

"I think you should bury it," Freya interjected, surprising all of them. "You said the other day that you had a funeral for your human self on your first birthday after becoming a vampire. This is sort of the same thing. You can respectfully close the door on this relationship and this part of your life and move on."

"I like that idea," Rebekah agreed.

Caroline slid the ring onto her ring finger and held up her hand. The ring looked the same on her hand as it always had, but now it didn't feel like it belonged there anymore, like if she continued to wear it, she would be clinging to a relationship that was long over and couldn't be revived, to a person that hadn't really existed outside of what she'd built him up in her mind to be.

"I left this behind when I left him at the altar and I never expected to see it again," Caroline said, then she pulled it off her finger. "I think Freya's right. I want to acknowledge that at one point, this relationship was what I wanted, and what made me happy, and now I know that I deserve better. One year, or ten years from now, I don't want to still be wearing or saving this, as if I'm still holding on to the idea that Stefan is this perfect man, this hero who must be remembered all the time. I know that it's wrong to speak—or think, too, I guess—ill of the dead, but that doesn't mean romanticizing them to the point that you forget that they sacrificed themselves to save their brother and their ex-girlfriend on what was supposed to be your wedding day."

"Then let's go bury a ring," Katherine rallied.

The Mikaelsons' house didn't have a backyard, given its location on a busy street with houses pressed close together. The best that they could do was a small area in the courtyard where a tree was planted.

Freya used her magic to make a deep hole in the dirt surrounding the tree, and Caroline dropped the small box containing the ring into the hole.

"I hope that you're happy, wherever you are," Caroline told Stefan, the ring, the hole in the ground, her past.

"It's in a better place now," Katherine said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Rest in peace?" Freya chimed in uncertainly.

"To new beginnings," Bonnie offered.

But it was Rebekah's words that were the most profound.

"Let this serve as a reminder to all of us, that anyone who says they love us needs to prove it, and that promises are worthless unless they are kept."

And then the hole in the ground was recovered, as if it had never been there at all.

* * *

Next chapter is a wild ride, so you might want to start preparing yourselves now…

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	21. Chapter XXI: Love the One You're With

Hello!

Has everyone seen the new pictures of Klaus and Caroline's reunion in the season premiere of The Originals?! I was so excited, I was the personification of the heart eyes emoji all day, and I was so inspired that I spent all day writing and finished the chapter I was working on so that I could update today!

Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter! This story now has over 200 reviews, which is way more than I ever thought it would get, and I am so grateful for all of you who are reading and reviewing this story!

I'm glad that those of you who mentioned it in your reviews said that you liked the funeral for the ring, which was a last-minute flash of inspiration as I was finishing the chapter. I don't think anything else I could have come up with would have fit quite as well! And for those of you who were hoping that Klaus was listening to Caroline's complaints about the ring Stefan gave her and maybe started getting some ideas… we'll have to see (well, you'll see. I already know).

In response to a concern about the twins' presence in the story, for the most part, I'm going to essentially fast-forward through any time they spend with Alaric, unless something necessary to the plot is happening with Caroline/Klaus/the rest of the Mikaelsons while they're gone, in which case Caroline will have deliberately taken them to Alaric's to keep them out of harm's way, like with this chapter.

There are a couple of things that you should know before you read this chapter. The first is that Cami is mentioned in this chapter, pretty extensively (coincidentally, I received a review on the last chapter from a guest who said that they wouldn't mind seeing Cami mentioned in this story, which was the first review to mention her in several chapters. I hope Cami's appearance is written as 'amazingly' as you'd hoped, lovely guest!).

The second thing is a warning that Caroline's abuse at Damon's hands is discussed. I wouldn't call the descriptions graphic, I don't think, and they are definitely not lengthy, but they are, shall we say, comprehensive, so if this will make you uncomfortable in any way, please read the last section of this chapter very carefully so that you can skip those few paragraphs, or skip it entirely and send me a message letting me know you skipped it so that I can send you a copy of that section with those descriptions redacted. I'm very sorry to anyone who will be affected by my including this, but I do have my reasons (which I explain in the chapter, through Caroline) that I feel are important to Caroline's growth as a character as well as future plot points.

I told you this chapter was going to be a wild ride…

Happy reading!

* * *

They had all assembled in the courtyard, waiting for the full moon to rise.

Caroline had taken the twins to Alaric's house, so that they didn't have to withstand Marcel's scrutiny, so that they wouldn't be in the way, so that they could get a break from the magic and mayhem, and just be children for a little while.

Similarly, Hope was with Mary, under the conditions that Hayley would bring her back when the spell was over, since Klaus wasn't ready to let Hope sleep over with Hayley and Jackson yet. But Marcel had demanded that every member of the council and everyone who had previously been resurrected be present for the spell, so Hayley and Jackson were in the courtyard with the rest of them.

Once the Mikaelsons had heard about the new custody agreement for the twins, they all made it a priority to spend as much time with them as possible during the days they lived in the Mikaelson mansion. Freya, Bonnie, and Davina spent hours every day showing the girls simple spells. Rebekah offered up her own clothes and jewelry for them to play dress-up. Katherine had tried to teach Lizzie to dance while Kol chased a squealing Josie around the courtyard, throwing her up in the air when he caught her, only to let her go and start the game all over again. Caroline had even seen Elijah reading to them, one twin on each side of him, their chubby cheeks pressed against the sleeves of his suit jacket as they tried to get a better look at the pictures in the book in his hands.

Marcel, Vincent, and Josh had arrived as the sun was setting. Caroline didn't know why they had gotten there so early, when it would be several hours before the moon would rise to the point where Bonnie and Freya could channel its energy.

They had agreed that, once again, Elijah would be the one to be sent into The Void, partly because no one else wanted to go, partly because everyone considered Elijah trustworthy, and partly because he was the only one who had done it before.

With all of the details worked out and all of the preparations made, now they were all just waiting for the moon to hit the right point in the sky.

Marcel and Vincent were standing almost uncomfortably close to Bonnie and Freya, waiting in the middle of the courtyard. There was a space about six feet long in front of them that was unoccupied, reserved for Elijah once they began the spell. Until then, Elijah was standing with Katherine on the other side of the space.

Davina was sitting as inconspicuously as she could next to Freya, so that if she needed to, the other witch could channel her. With the way that they were positioned, Freya would be able to reach down and take Davina's hand to channel her magic without Marcel ever seeing what she was doing. Kol was standing behind Davina, his hands on her shoulders.

Caroline and Rebekah were sitting, facing each other, on opposite sides of where Elijah would be once the spell was underway. Klaus was standing behind Caroline, his hands resting on her shoulders, where Caroline had reached up and laced their fingers together.

Finn and Josh were both standing as far away from the group assembled as they could, both nervous about the spell and the amount of magic it used.

The temperature was becoming uncomfortably warm in the courtyard, which Caroline attributed to the number of bodies that were standing in such close proximity. Plus, it was August in the South, it was supposed to be warm. Caroline told herself to think nothing of it, and focus on the upcoming spell that Bonnie and Freya were going to perform.

"How much longer until we can get started?" Kol complained, though Caroline knew that he was privately glad that he didn't have to participate in the spell this time.

"It shouldn't be long now," Bonnie assured him.

Caroline was pleased and relieved at how quickly and completely Bonnie had fit in. She wasn't floating on the edges of the group as Caroline's friend from home, or their local Bennett witch, but a part of the group. Bonnie was good friends with Freya, Rebekah, Davina, and Kol; a mentor to the children; and a trusted magic expert to all of them.

Another forty-five minutes passed before they were able to see the moon over the roof, nearly at its zenith.

The temperature kept rising, but Caroline didn't want to say anything, since no one else seemed to be at all concerned, and so she just blamed it on her increasing nerves about this spell.

"So, Caroline," Marcel started, trying to make another attempt at conversation. "Are you hiding your kids from me again?"

"Yes," Caroline answered with a sickly-sweet smile.

Instead of being irritated by Caroline's demeanor, Marcel laughed.

"I'm not going to hurt them, Caroline," Marcel insisted. "I'm not your enemy, or theirs."

"And why should I believe you?" Caroline asked.

"We don't hurt kids, as a rule," Vincent interjected.

"And if I wanted to hurt them, or you, I would have done it already. As it is, you, your daughters, and all of the strays you brought with you to New Orleans, are perfectly safe," Marcel added.

"I'm still not taking any chances," Caroline answered.

The temperature was still rising, and Caroline was sure that everyone must be able to feel how visibly uncomfortable with how hot it was in the courtyard, even though it was now nearing midnight and the temperature should be going down, not up.

They lapsed into silence again, until Bonnie suddenly cried out, "It's time!"

Elijah took off his suit jacket and handed it to Katherine before approaching Bonnie, taking her outstretched arm and biting into it, drinking a few gulps of her blood, then lying down in the space they'd left for him.

Finn and Josh moved closer to the group, with Josh coming to stand with Marcel and Vincent, while Finn stood next to Katherine.

"Elijah, you're looking for Vincent's wife Eva, and Josh's boyfriend Aiden," Bonnie reminded him.

Elijah nodded once.

"Wait!" Vincent interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Try to find Cami as well," Vincent requested. "She was a good friend, and a good person; she didn't deserve to die as collateral damage in your war."

Elijah looked at Klaus, who merely shrugged and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"All right," Elijah agreed. "Eva, Aiden, and Camille."

"Is everyone ready?" Bonnie asked.

Everyone gave some signal of their ascent—a series of nods and a murmur of yeses.

Bonnie and Freya joined hands and began to chant, the spell now familiar to Caroline and everyone else who had heard it before, though Katherine, Davina, Finn, Jackson, Marcel, Vincent, and Josh looked transfixed as they heard the words for the first time.

The temperature finally dropped, settling at what an average summer night would feel like, and Caroline could have sworn she heard more than one sigh of relief.

{ }

Everyone who had witnessed this spell in practice before was considerably more relaxed the second time around.

Caroline, in particular, was far less tense this time, since her daughters were not participating in the spell.

While the Mikaelsons had anxiously paced the room before, now they were casually chatting amongst themselves, as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Now they knew approximately how long the spell would take, how much magic was needed to complete the spell, how many people could be brought back at what time, and why some people couldn't come back.

Caroline was sitting comfortably, leaning against Klaus and chatting with Rebekah over Elijah, which they couldn't think about, because it would be too weird if they did. Klaus was alternating between watching the witches and looking down at Caroline affectionately, though he also seemed to be keeping an eye on Marcel and Vincent to make sure they didn't do anything suspicious. Kol seemed completely relaxed, enjoying observing the spell rather than being a participant. On the outs with everyone else, Hayley was talking quietly to Jackson, though it was clear that she was carrying the conversation.

Conversely, the people who hadn't seen the spell before were very obviously nervous. Katherine was clinging to Elijah's jacket, as if it would allow her to communicate with him while he was in The Void. Josh was silently standing facing the witches as they worked, not making eye contact with anyone. Davina kept looking up at Bonnie, ready to step in at any time if she was needed. Vincent had crouched down on the ground, his hands clasped in front of his mouth. Jackson was talking quietly with Hayley, but he kept looking over at Bonnie and Freya, as if he couldn't believe what they were doing. Finn was completely motionless, his eyes never leaving his brother's body. And Marcel couldn't keep still, constantly pacing or rocking on his heels.

"You know we don't all have to stay out here watching the whole time, right?" Kol asked the group. "If you're nervous, you can go inside and someone will call you when they're done."

They all shook their heads, wanting to be present so that they would know what was happening.

"Suit yourselves," Kol shrugged.

With the help of the moon, the spell didn't take as long as the previous time. While the first time had taken over seven hours, it was just over four and a half hours when the first signs that the end was near became visible.

Everyone who had witnessed this spell in practice before was able to recognize the signs that it was almost over. The faintest shadows of figures started to appear as Elijah's eyes fluttered open.

{ }

Just as they had last time, figures started to emerge as Elijah resurfaced. The process was just as captivating to Caroline as it had been the first time, and she didn't think that seeing people come back to life would ever be something that she wasn't enthralled by.

One of the figures materialized in front of Bonnie and Freya, the other near where Katherine and Finn were standing.

After a few minutes, the two figures had solidified and were alive and aware. The one near Bonnie and Freya was a beautiful woman with dark, curly hair and skin the color of chocolate, whose face split into a wide grin at the sight of Vincent. The other figure was a tall young man with brown hair, who had to be Josh's boyfriend Aiden.

There was no sign of a third figure, and no indication that one was about to appear.

Elijah wearily sat up, looking to see who he was able to bring back.

"That is Vincent's wife Eva," Elijah introduced, gesturing to the woman who was now throwing herself into Vincent's arms. "And that is Josh's boyfriend Aiden. Eva is a witch, and Aiden is a werewolf."

Aiden walked over to Josh and the two men hugged. The gesture wasn't as passionate as other reunions that Caroline had seen the two times she'd witnessed people being revived, but for some reason the stoicism of the moment made it feel even more personal and intimate, as if they were sharing a secret that she didn't have the right to know.

With the spell completed, Bonnie let go of Freya's hand, swaying slightly without the other witch's support.

Caroline and several of the people standing near her let out a figurative sigh of relief, thankful that Bonnie had been able to complete the spell without harming herself or arousing Marcel's suspicion. Yes, she looked weak now, but she didn't look much different than she had after the first attempt at the spell. This pleased Caroline for another reason: Bonnie had only needed as much power as channeling the full moon provided from Josie, which meant that the twins would never have to participate in the spell again if they used it again in the future.

Marcel, who was closest to Bonnie, quickly bit into his wrist, offering it to Bonnie, who waved it away dismissively.

"Wait a minute," Marcel said. "You lied to me."

"We have been known to do that, mate," Kol replied. "Anything specific you're referring to?"

"There's no way Bonnie and Freya did the spell alone last time, if Bonnie is this drained after channeling the power of the full moon," Marcel replied.

Caroline froze. She watched with bated breath as everyone in the courtyard looked around—some of them at Bonnie, some of them at Marcel—waited for someone to speak up and address Marcel's accusation. Everyone who knew the secret of how the spell had worked last time was waiting for someone else who knew to come up with a passable excuse, while everyone who didn't know was waiting for an explanation.

There was a tense moment before anyone spoke, when the air felt oppressively heavy, as Caroline could only wait and hope that no one admitted that Josie had been involved. For all that Marcel claimed about having good intentions towards the twins, Caroline still was wary that once he found out just how powerful they were, he would change his tune. For now, the twins' greatest protection was that Marcel still saw them as innocent little girls. Once he discovered that one of them had literally helped raise the dead, he wouldn't see them that way anymore.

"She was 'drained' last time too, and then she went to bed, and after a good night's sleep, she was well-rested and back to full strength when you saw her the next day," Rebekah explained.

Marcel paused, appearing to consider this. Caroline tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible, but inwardly she was nervously hoping that Marcel would believe Rebekah's explanation.

"Or you had another witch helping you and you don't want me to know about it for some reason," Marcel speculated.

No one said anything in response, not wanting to inadvertently give him any information that he could use to help support his theory.

"And now no one is saying anything, which just makes me more suspicious," he added.

"We can all repeat what Rebekah told you, but it's the same truth no matter who says it," Bonnie said, clearly hoping that corroborating Rebekah's story herself would convince Marcel that it was the truth. It made sense to Caroline: Marcel clearly did not trust the Mikaelsons, but he'd only met Bonnie once before, so he had no reason not to trust her. If he didn't trust her, it wasn't because of anything she did, it was because he didn't trust people.

"What I want to know is why Cami isn't here," Vincent interrupted.

Caroline still didn't know who this 'Cami' person was, but she was grateful for the distraction from Bonnie and the circumstances of how the spell had worked the previous time it was used.

"She wasn't in The Void," Elijah answered. "You might take comfort in knowing that under most circumstances, if anyone who died as a supernatural creature after The Other Side collapsed is not in The Void, it means that that person has found peace. Perhaps Camille is with her brother, or her uncle, or even both of them."

Bonnie's spell hinged on an odd catch-22: When a vampire, witch, or werewolf died, the best that their loved ones could hope for was that they would find peace, but for them to be able to come back to life, they had to have gotten stuck in The Void, the supernatural equivalent of purgatory.

"That's it?" Vincent asked. "After everything she did for your family, you just say 'Oh, well, I couldn't find her, let's hope she's at peace!'"

Caroline was becoming increasingly curious about who Cami was. According to Vincent, she had apparently been a significant help to the notoriously distrustful and isolated Mikaelson family, yet Elijah still insisted on calling her by her full name. Just how close was she to the family, and if she was as important to them as Vincent thought she was, how come no one had mentioned her at all in the months since Caroline had arrived?

"We have no reason to believe she wouldn't find peace," Elijah explained calmly. "She hadn't been a vampire for very long before she died, and she didn't exactly spend that time committing massacres."

Vincent approached Hayley, getting very close to her.

"She cared for your daughter," Vincent told her. "When you couldn't, or when you decided that something else was more important, she would take care of Hope for you. And you can't even double-check to see if she's able to come back to life?"

Hayley looked at Klaus, as if asking him what she should say in response to that.

"I thought you were supposed to be friends, but it's your fault she's dead," Vincent spat out, now facing Rebekah. "You were the one who turned Aurora, and Aurora was the one who turned her. If Cami had never become a vampire, she might still be alive right now."

Caroline didn't know who Aurora was, but she found herself struggling not to laugh at the preposterous image in her head of Lizzie's favorite Disney princess as a vampire, terrorizing New Orleans.

"I had no way of knowing what Aurora would do to her," Rebekah argued. "I especially didn't know what she would do to her a thousand years ago when I gave her my blood to heal her. This isn't my fault, Vincent, and you know it. I know that you're hurt, and disappointed that she couldn't come back, but blaming me isn't going to make you feel any better in the long run."

"You're right," Vincent admitted. "It isn't your fault."

Vincent turned around.

"It's your fault," Vincent said to Klaus, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's your fault that she got mixed up in all of your supernatural craziness, it's your fault that she was turned, and it's your fault that she was killed," Vincent's voice got louder and louder with every word he spoke. "And you have the nerve to stand there like you couldn't care less that she's dead and it's all your fault."

Vincent shook his head in disappointment, taking a step back from Klaus as if he simply couldn't bear to stay that close to him for another second.

"That girl was in love with you," Vincent stated, almost coldly. "She would have followed you anywhere in the world, because she loved you, and she thought that you could be saved, that you were worth saving. Now I don't see whatever it was that Cami saw in you that made her think that you were capable of being loved, or of being saved, but I know that if there was any good or light in you, it was because of her, and I don't know if you're even capable of love, but she was so convinced that you loved her that it had to be true. She loved you, and you loved her, and you're acting like she meant nothing to you."

Caroline's heart sank.

Vincent took his wife's hand and stormed off, throwing the gate open and rushing through it like Orpheus pulling Eurydice out of the Underworld. Except Vincent didn't look back.

Josh and Aiden followed on Vincent's heels, clearly not wanting to be involved in any upcoming drama.

Marcel looked at Caroline with sympathy, the first time anyone had looked at her since Vincent had started speaking.

"Thank you for your help and your magic, everyone," Marcel said grandly, offering Bonnie and Freya a bow, then turning and following his friends through the gate.

"Caroline," Klaus started, turning to face her, reaching out his hands to place on her shoulders.

Caroline turned and walked into the house.

{ }

She sat heavily at the dining room table, her gaze fixed on the kids' table Klaus and Elijah had made for the girls.

They all found her a few minutes later, though Caroline hadn't made it particularly difficult to find her. She'd known that no matter where she went, they would be able to find her right away, and while she didn't want to have this conversation out in the open of the courtyard, she also didn't want to have it in her room.

Caroline had sat at the head of the table, a seat usually reserved for Klaus or Elijah. She hadn't been seeking company, so Caroline had impulsively taken the seat herself. As everyone filed in, Bonnie instinctively ran for the seat on Caroline's left, while Klaus took the one on her right. Katherine, Rebekah, and Freya stayed close to Caroline as well, while Finn, Elijah, Hayley, and Jackson, who Caroline wasn't as close to, chose seats as far away from Caroline as they could get, with Kol and Davina forming an awkward, inadvertent barrier between the two groups.

"Caroline, what Vincent said—" Klaus started to explain.

"Was true?" Caroline guessed. "You've killed people for less than lying about you not being a heartless monster with no feelings."

"Caroline," Rebekah rebuked softly.

"She was who he was looking for before, wasn't she?" Caroline asked. "When we invited Marcel over to explain that we'd been able to bring people back from the dead, Vincent looked like he was looking for someone. It was Cami that he was looking for, wasn't it?"

Klaus nodded.

"Since apparently everyone except me, Bonnie, and Katherine knows this story, can someone please fill us in?" Caroline suggested.

Caroline couldn't help but think that that was by design. It was very unlikely that someone who had apparently been very important to the entire family would never be mentioned, that no one would ever note something she'd said, or comment on something they'd seen that reminded them of her. Even Hayley hadn't said anything about her during one of her many tirades against Caroline, and bringing up a woman who Klaus had allegedly loved would have been the perfect ammunition for Hayley to use against her.

"Camille, or Cami, as she preferred to be called, was a… trusted family friend," Klaus said, carefully choosing his words. "When I first met her, when I first arrived in New Orleans, Marcel was interested in her, and I sought to exploit that. Eventually we became friends, she and I, and her and the rest of the family as well. As Vincent pointed out, she would babysit Hope once she came back to the city. An enemy of ours, Aurora, who was the first vampire Rebekah ever turned, turned Cami into a vampire shortly before Stefan came to town and my sireline was severed, and she was killed by Aurora's ally, Lucien, who was the first vampire I turned, not long after that," he explained.

"So it wasn't long after she died that you were taken prisoner here?" Caroline asked.

"Those two events did take place in rather quick succession, yes," Klaus answered, endeavoring to be truthful but not seeing why Caroline wanted that information.

"And then you were a hostage for three years. Maybe you need some time to mourn her," Caroline mused.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked.

"Well, this woman who loved you, and who you apparently loved in return, died, and you weren't really given time to properly grieve before you were thrown into a struggle for survival that didn't allow for that kind of thinking. So, tell me about her. What was she like, what did you like about her, that sort of thing?" Caroline said.

"She was blonde," Klaus offered, still confused as to what Caroline was thinking. "She was a psychologist…"

Was that the way that Klaus described Caroline to other people? Her hair color, her profession, and maybe her hometown if he was feeling particularly chatty that day?

Klaus looked around at his family, as if expecting them to chime in and save him from having to say anything else.

"Everyone else, feel free to participate as well, you didn't have time to mourn her either before you were all packed up in coffins," Caroline invited.

"Care, what are you doing?" Rebekah asked.

"Please don't call me that," Caroline responded. "At least not now. That nickname reminds me of my friends from home."

And for all of their faults, and they had many, Caroline's friends from Mystic Falls would have told her about Cami if they'd known, even if it had just been Damon trying to prove how unimportant she was, again, in order to hurt her, again. Elena would have theatrically smothered her prejudices against Klaus under the weight of her own compassion and offered to be there for her friend, even if being there had ended up being Elena reminding Caroline of all of the things Klaus did to hurt her, conveniently glossing over all of the things Klaus had done to help Caroline. Stefan, the friend Stefan, not the boyfriend; the one that was real and that she could count on, not the one that she'd invented in her head; would have shrugged, scowled, and offered her a drink—of the alcoholic variety, and then if that didn't work, of the vampire variety. Matt would have patted her on the back and given her his reassuring smile before telling her that everything would be okay.

"Okay…" Rebekah agreed uncertainly.

"All right, if we're finished talking about what we liked about Camille, we can move on," Caroline said. "How long were you together?" she asked Klaus.

"We weren't together," Klaus answered.

"But Vincent said that you two were in love," Caroline said, tilting her head slightly and furrowing her brow.

"I knew that she loved me, because she told me," Klaus replied. "And I certainly had grown to care for her, and I told her that I loved her, right before she died—"

"How romantic!" Caroline interrupted.

"What are you doing, Caroline?" Klaus asked. "I know that hearing all of this is just hurting you, so why do you want to hear it?"

Truth be told, Caroline didn't really know what asking all of these questions would achieve. She of course knew that Klaus had been alive for over a thousand years before he met her, and she'd already come face to face with the most consequential of his dalliances since he'd met her, but this situation felt different. This hurt more than Hayley, because at least she'd known that despite their daughter together, Klaus had never had any romantic feelings for Hayley whatsoever. This was what she had been afraid of: Klaus falling in love with someone else after he'd promised to love her forever.

"Because it's a little unnerving to hear that your boyfriend, who had led you to believe that you were the only person that he'd ever been in love with in his entire life, actually fell in love with someone else after he promised that he would be your last love. Were you just hoping that I wouldn't show up until after your human replacement died?" Caroline asked. "Yeah, after you said she was blonde, and Vincent said that she was able to see and bring out the good and light in you, I figured out that you have a type."

"I love you, Caroline," Klaus stated. "I told her I loved her when she was dying, because she was dying, and I knew she loved me, and I felt guilty. She didn't even come close to replacing you, and I didn't want her to."

Caroline was reminded of how she'd told Klaus that she'd known he was in love with her when she'd been dying from his hybrid bite. He hadn't denied it, but he hadn't agreed, either. If Klaus had let her die then, she never would have heard him tell her that he loved her. Or had he not told her then because he knew he wouldn't, or couldn't, let her die?

"How considerate of you to everyone involved," Caroline said. "I don't want to argue about this anymore. Elijah tried to bring Cami back to life, and he couldn't, presumably because she has found peace. Good for her. I was just blindsided by the fact that, despite me telling you about my past relationships, you decided not to tell me about yours. That's all."

Caroline stood up from the table and pushed in her chair.

"Now, I think I'd like to get out of this house for a little while. Maybe I'll get coffee, or even some ice cream. Bonnie, Katherine, would you like to come with me?"

Both girls immediately shot up out of their seats.

"Are we bringing the rest of the girl gang with us?" Katherine asked.

Caroline looked at Rebekah and Freya, who she counted among her best friends. She looked at Davina, who she wasn't as close to, but who had returned to life following along with everyone else, following the unspoken rule of not mentioning Cami to Caroline that they had all known.

Caroline let her eyes scan the rest of the table. Excluding herself, Bonnie, and Katherine, there were now nine people sitting at the table. Nine people had managed to never mention this person, which meant either that they had all been ordered not to, or Vincent was wrong and Cami wasn't as important to the Mikaelsons as he thought she was.

"No," Caroline said coldly, sharply, like her voice was made of ice. "They kept this from me, too."

Caroline saw a flash of hurt cross Rebekah's and Freya's faces before she turned her back on them and stormed out of the room.

{ }

Despite it being only six in the morning, the bakery around the corner from the Mikaelsons' house was already open for business.

Caroline, Bonnie, and Katherine were their only customers at the early hour, so they were immediately served their coffee and a plate piled high with beignets for them to share.

"I just don't get it," Caroline said in between bites of her beignet. "How could all of them not mention a person they all knew, unless it was deliberate? It can't have been a coincidence, right?"

Katherine, who was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, was gulping down her coffee.

"Maybe she wasn't as important as Vincent thought she was?" Katherine suggested when she came up for air.

"He said that Klaus loved her, though, that's something people sit up and take notice of," Bonnie countered, taking a beignet from the pile.

"Wait, are you playing bad cop? I don't know how to play good cop, I've never done it before," Katherine told Bonnie, who rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm just saying, maybe Cami wasn't that important to the Mikaelsons except in relation to Klaus, and now that she's dead and you're here, they didn't see any point in bringing her up," Bonnie clarified.

"That doesn't explain Hayley though," Caroline pointed out. "Hayley would have gladly rubbed it in my face that Klaus loved someone else, who by Klaus's own admission was a lot like me. She was furious when she thought that I was trying to replace her as the most important person to the Mikaelsons; she would have loved to have told me that Klaus had tried to replace me."

"I thought you said that she was worried about you taking Hope away from her?" Bonnie asked. "The way I read the situation, Hayley couldn't care less if you were with Klaus, she just didn't want you adopting Hope from out from under her. I don't think she would have bothered to make you jealous of Cami. If anything, she would have wanted you to be jealous of her."

Bonnie did have a point, but Caroline wasn't convinced that Hayley wouldn't have used everything she could think of to make Caroline feel like she wasn't considered important or permanent in the Mikaelson household, the way that Hayley was.

"Maybe," Caroline replied noncommittally, eating another beignet.

"I personally feel like you're giving Hayley too much credit for her intelligence," Katherine chimed in. "I agree with Caroline. I think that Hayley saw her importance to Klaus and the rest of the Mikaelsons dwindling and was just lashing out at Caroline. I don't think that she was that discerning: if she thought it would upset Caroline to hear it, she said it."

Katherine really was better suited to playing bad cop.

"And what about Hope?" Caroline steered the conversation away from the topic of Hayley. "Klaus could have ordered everyone else not to talk about Cami, but Hope is only five, she would slip up, even if none of the adults did."

"Hope would have only been two when Cami died," Bonnie answered, then took another sip of her coffee before continuing. "It isn't uncommon for small children not to remember people or events at that age."

"Not that I'm not thrilled at this early morning therapy session, but wouldn't it be more productive to ask someone who actually knows the answers these questions?" Katherine asked, not waiting for an answer before walking off to get another cup of coffee.

Caroline turned to fully face Bonnie.

"You heard them before," Caroline said. "I was never going to get a straight answer with everyone there. Klaus, Rebekah, and Freya would try to protect me and make it sound like she was just a friend that they weren't particularly close to and weren't devastated when she died. Elijah would try to be diplomatic, Finn wouldn't say anything, I don't know what Davina or Jackson know, except that when they came back to life they didn't mention her either, not even to ask if we'd tried to being her back as well."

By the time she'd finished speaking, Katherine was walking back across the empty café towards them.

"I think maybe you're reading a little too much into this," Bonnie suggested.

"So you really think that it's possible that there was no conspiracy to not tell me about her, that she genuinely just didn't come up?" Caroline asked Bonnie.

"Yes," Bonnie and Katherine said in unison.

"Look, even if she was important then, which I don't think she was, she isn't important now," Katherine continued, pointing at Caroline with a beignet to emphasize certain words. "I don't find it hard to believe that over a thousand years, there have been girls who have deluded themselves into thinking Klaus loved them, and it just so happens that Vincent was friends with one of them. And it's unfortunate for her that she fancied herself in love with someone who is literally only capable of loving his siblings, his daughter, and you, but she did and that's her problem, not yours. I know this will sound weird coming from me, but you should probably at least start by taking Klaus at his word. You know him, and as much as he's done wrong, I don't think he's made a habit of lying to you. Plus, he's selfish. If he really needed time to mourn his dead shrink before being with you, then that's what he would have done. Klaus loves you, Caroline, and no one from either of your pasts can compete with that."

"Really?" Caroline questioned in a small voice, her eyes clouding with tears at Katherine's unexpected show of support for her relationship with Klaus.

"Yes!" Katherine and Bonnie exclaimed in unison again.

"It's just that, this is what I was really afraid of," Caroline confessed. "As hurt as I used to be over Hayley and how she will always be a part of Klaus's life because of Hope—a living reminder that at one point, loving me wasn't enough for him—I got over it because he reassured me that he never had any romantic feelings for her whatsoever, that she was just a drunken one-night-stand with some very serious unforeseen consequences. But this girl he might have actually had feelings for. And if he could have feelings for someone else, he might have fallen in love with someone else, and then he wouldn't love me anymore."

"Okay, let's start with, Klaus said that he just told her that he loved her because she was dying, and essentially admitted that he didn't mean it," Katherine said.

"And, Klaus also said that he met her when he first arrived in New Orleans, and that she was turned not long before Stefan showed up here," Bonnie continued. "Which meant that he had already met her when he came back to Mystic Falls for your graduation."

Caroline shot her best friend a questioning look.

"Oh, please," Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Elena and Stefan might have been too relieved that he was there to save Damon, and Matt might have been too wrapped up in Rebekah to notice, but you didn't fool me. He showed up, in a suit, in way less time than is physically possible, even if he'd left New Orleans the second he saw your number on his caller ID. He was there to see you graduate, because he knew that it meant a lot to you."

"And it means that she was one of the vampires that Freya mentioned, whose lives he risked to save Stefan's, which he did for the sole purpose of making you happy," Katherine added.

"And if that isn't enough," Bonnie said, tearing a beignet into bite-sized pieces as she spoke. "There's also the fact that she's dead."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked. Katherine looked equally confused.

"I don't know what exactly it was that she died of, but I do know that Klaus takes every precaution he possibly can to make sure that you're safe," Bonnie explained, gesturing to Caroline's hybrid bodyguards, who were stationed outside the bakery door. "If you were dying, Klaus would do everything he could to try to save you, no matter what it cost him, no matter how many favors he had to call in, no matter how many people he had to kill, or threaten, or blackmail. Why are you smiling?" Bonnie asked.

"Because I used to be the one telling you that," Caroline replied. "I used to constantly be defending him to you, and telling you how much he loves me, and that he would do anything to keep me safe. It means a lot to me that you trust him and think that highly of him, that you're willing to come to his defense and reassure me that I'm important to him when I'm feeling insecure."

"Then I think that you've come to your own conclusion," Katherine said. "But sometimes you need an outside perspective to help you see the situation in its entirety. For example, you wouldn't know that Klaus loves you so much that sometimes seeing his face when he looks at you actually makes me nauseous unless you asked me."

"Well, I apologize for your nausea," Caroline responded. "And thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," Katherine answered.

"Wait, Caroline," Bonnie tried to get her attention. "You said that you had divulged your entire romantic history… Does that mean you told Klaus about Damon?"

"What? You and Damon?" Katherine exclaimed.

"No, I didn't," Caroline admitted. "I didn't have to tell him about Tyler, because Klaus was in Mystic Falls while I was with him, and I think he somehow already knew about Matt, and we talked about Stefan, but I don't talk about that, ever, really, so I'm surprised you even brought it up."

"Care," Bonnie gave Caroline her most serious, compassionate look. "I know that there were times when I was hard on you, and unhappy that you were a vampire, and that might have made you think that I loved Elena more than I loved you, but when it comes to Damon, I have always been on your side. As much as I grew to tolerate him, and he grew to trust me, I would have dropped him in a heartbeat if you'd asked me to."

"I appreciate that, Bonnie," Caroline smiled. "But it wasn't just you. It was Elena and Stefan, who chose to pretend the whole thing never happened and would have chosen Damon over me without even thinking about it. It was Matt and Tyler, who I'm pretty sure never knew what happened. He was even friends with my mom, before, during, and after what he did to me, and she never found out."

"What happened?" Katherine asked.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just so used to you being in the know when it comes to Mystic Falls that I thought you already knew," Bonnie apologized.

Both girls looked at Caroline, waiting for her to explain.

"When I was human, Damon, um, he hurt me," Caroline whispered. "He abused me, in every way that I can think of, and Stefan and Elena knew and they didn't do anything."

Katherine looked shocked, though Caroline wasn't sure if she was surprised by Damon's behavior, Stefan and Elena's roles as accomplices, or that Caroline was the victim.

"He compelled me to do his bidding and to have sex with him, and he bit me and drank my blood and then compelled me to forget it, and he forced me to lie to everyone I knew, and hide our relationship from them, and he threatened to kill me, all the time, and he was always insulting me, calling me stupid, and shallow, and useless," Caroline continued, tears quietly rolling down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Caroline," Katherine said.

"And then when I was turned, I remembered all of it," Caroline finished.

"What did you do?" Katherine asked, feeling responsible for Caroline having to live through the torture she had suffered at Damon's hands twice.

"I gave him your message," Caroline replied. "I shoved him down the hallway, and that was the only revenge I ever got. Because all of my friends, and my mom, were also friends with him, I didn't really have any choice but to put it behind me and forget it ever happened, since that's what everyone else did. Even though it wasn't just me, he did the same thing to someone else, so this was a pattern of behavior for him, not just an isolated incident, but everyone else just accepted it, I guess."

"And you haven't told Klaus about this?" Katherine confirmed.

"No, I couldn't, even back when he lived in Mystic Falls," Caroline said. "Elena was my friend, and she never would have forgiven me if I was the reason that anything happened to Damon, and I think we all know that Klaus would have killed Damon, slowly and painfully, if he knew what he did to me."

"But that's what he deserves," Katherine insisted. "And Elena's in a coma, it might be decades before she wakes up, Damon probably would have done something stupid and gotten himself killed between now and then anyway."

"You're right," Caroline conceded. "In the spirit of honesty, I should tell Klaus about this. I guess I just thought that not talking about it meant I wasn't dwelling on it, that I was strong enough to get past it, that I could pretend it didn't happen and I wasn't letting it define me, but now I think that if I don't talk about it, it's almost like I'm saying that what he did was okay, that it wasn't out of the ordinary and therefore not worth mentioning, and that he doesn't deserve to be punished for what he did, when he does, even if now it's years later. My mom is dead, Stefan is dead, Elena is in a coma: I don't have to keep quiet about how Damon hurt me so that our mutual loved ones aren't forced to come to terms with how cruel he could be anymore."

"I'm proud of you, Care," Bonnie said, holding Caroline's hand.

"Me, too," Katherine said, taking Caroline's other hand.

"I should do it now, before I lose my nerve," Caroline decided, taking a deep breath and standing up.

"Do you want us to come with you, or do you want to do this by yourself?" Bonnie asked.

"Actually, if you could be in the house to do that spell that can soundproof a room before I tell him, that would be wonderful. I'm don't think I'm ready for everyone to know," Caroline said.

"I just have to pick up some sage for that spell really quick and I'll meet you back at the house," Bonnie agreed, rushing out the door of the bakery.

Caroline and Katherine got up too, and after leaving the bakery, turned in the opposite direction to go home.

After a few minutes, a small family of lost tourists stopped them, asking for directions to Royal Street. While Caroline readily helped them, Katherine was quickly bored and annoyed, and continued walking, telling Caroline to catch up when she was finished.

Once she'd sent the family in the right direction, Caroline continued her walk home, mentally planning how she was going to tell Klaus the devastating secret she'd been keeping for years.

"That's her," a soft female voice said from behind Caroline. The voice sounded sort of familiar, but Caroline couldn't think of where she might have heard it before. It was smooth and gentle, with a hint of an accent; a voice that Caroline thought sounded like what she imagined Rebekah's voice would have sounded like if she were human and had aged another twenty or thirty years.

"She's not very pretty," another unfamiliar female voice said snidely. This voice was sharper, and completely unfamiliar.

That was when Caroline felt the familiar debilitating headache that only came from an angry, powerful witch. Caroline was frozen in place, unable to move, powerless to do anything except feel the pain covering every inch of her body.

Out of the corner of her eye, she was able to see the prostrate body of one of the hybrids assigned to her protection detail. It looked like his neck had been snapped, and Caroline assumed the others had received the same treatment. She was on her own.

"We aren't here to make judgments," the first voice scolded.

"Fine," the second voice acquiesced.

The voice taunting, "Nighty-night, sweet Caroline," was the last thing Caroline heard before feeling the sharp pinch in her neck she'd experienced too many times before, and then everything went black.

* * *

So… anyone see that coming?

I know that a lot happened this chapter, so if you have any questions or are confused about anything, please leave a review or send me a message so that I can answer and/or clarify.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	22. Chapter XXII: The Little Girl Lost

Hi everyone!

Happy two weeks until Klaroline reunion day! I'm certainly going to update on the day of the season premiere, and unless something comes up, I will also update once between now and then.

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter! I especially loved seeing your guesses as to who the two witches are—at least one of you guessed correctly, but you won't find out who they are this chapter.

I hope you haven't gotten attached to my recent shorter author's notes, because last chapter seems to need some explaining…

More than one of you said that you found Caroline annoying last chapter. Sorry! I know we would all rather read Klaus and Caroline happy and in love with no relationship drama, but it can't always be smooth sailing. A common thread through those complaints is that Klaus's relationship with Cami isn't worth Caroline getting upset over, which we know, but Caroline doesn't, because no one ever told her anything about it. In this case, it isn't so much the secret itself that upset Caroline, it's that it was kept a secret in the first place. And when Caroline gets upset, she reverts back to the insecure human mean girl she used to be, which is why she acted so catty towards Rebekah and Freya. We've already visited these insecurities when Caroline was upset over Hayley, who she knew from the start Klaus had no romantic feelings for, so knowing that Klaus had told another person that he loved them (even though he claims not to have meant it) would hurt her all over again. And yes, it is somewhat hypocritical for Caroline to be mad when she was with Stefan at the time, but in her defense, Klaus promised to love her forever and wait for her to love him in return, while Caroline made no such promise. Plus, many Klaroline fans see Cami as an inferior copy of Caroline, but that isn't how Caroline would see her. No, Caroline didn't expect Klaus to live as a monk before she turned up at his door, but the fact that Cami was so similar to Caroline (according to the minimal information Caroline knows about her) made Caroline feel like Klaus replaced her. So again, I'm sorry to those of you who didn't like how Caroline reacted, but I don't think it was out of character for her to be upset, and I think it actually shows some character growth and increased security in Klaus's love for her that she got over her anger so quickly (with the help of Katherine and Bonnie) as opposed to the two weeks of not speaking that we had to suffer through when Caroline finally confronted Klaus over her anger and hurt over Hayley.

With regards to Damon, I really appreciate that many of you seemed pleased that this will be addressed in the story. As I wrote in the last chapter, I think that Caroline's essentially coerced silence regarding the abuse she suffered at Damon's hands didn't mean that she forgave him or that she forgot what he did, it just made everyone else think she had so that they could forget and not feel guilty for not helping her or continuing to have a relationship with Damon. Yes, Caroline was trying to keep the peace, but she shouldn't have to sacrifice her peace of mind so that the mutual friends she shares with her abuser don't have to feel bad about being friends with an abuser. If you ask me, pushing him down the hallway once is not a sufficient punishment for all of the physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse that he put Caroline through—but don't worry, Klaus will make sure Damon is adequately punished when he finds out (if you'd like to offer suggestions for what Klaus might do to him, I'd love to hear your thoughts), but that won't be this chapter. And since someone asked, Caroline wanted to tell Klaus right away for the sake of honesty, since it would be hypocritical to get so annoyed over him keeping something from her when she's keeping this huge secret from him, plus, as she says, she doesn't want to lose her nerve, since confessing this secret to Klaus is a daunting task that will require a lot of courage.

This chapter is unique (let me know when you figured out how!) and it involves a lot of point-of-view changes, including points-of-view we haven't seen before. I tried to make it very clear whose perspective the section was from within the first sentence, so I hope it isn't too confusing.

Lastly, the chapter title comes from the title of a poem by William Blake.

Happy reading!

* * *

When Klaus heard someone approach the gate, he rushed downstairs and into the courtyard, assuming that it was Caroline.

It wasn't.

Katherine opened the gate and closed it behind her, signaling that she was alone.

"Where is she?" Klaus demanded, his hands moving to Katherine's shoulders, effectively trapping her against the gate.

"Relax, she's right behind me," Katherine answered. "Little Miss Perfect stopped to give some lost tourists directions, she'll be here in a minute."

After hearing the commotion, Elijah, Rebekah, Freya, and Kol ran outside to see what the matter was. Klaus assumed that Davina had stayed in the dining room to supervise Hope, who had just been dropped off by Hayley a few minutes earlier, while Finn remained in his room, avoiding socializing with the rest of the family whenever possible.

"What is going on here?" Elijah asked, coming to stand next to Katherine.

Katherine rapidly repeated what she'd told Klaus to his siblings—that she and Caroline had been walking back home when they'd been approached by a small group of tourists who were lost and asking for directions, and that while Caroline had graciously stopped to help them, Katherine, who had no patience for such errands, had continued walking, assuming that Caroline would catch up with her soon.

"See? There is a perfectly reasonable explanation. Just wait a few more moments before you recommence shouting and manhandling people who are only trying to help you," Elijah said.

Ten minutes later, Bonnie arrived, holding a bag from the grocery store filled with herbs to use for her spells.

Twenty minutes later, Caroline still hadn't shown up, and Klaus was starting to worry, in spite of the more rational voices both in his subconscious and from the people in the courtyard with him, that told him that she had just gotten distracted, or had volunteered to walk with the tourists to wherever they were going.

Thirty minutes later, Klaus called all six of the hybrids tasked with protecting Caroline.

None of them answered their phones.

Freya quietly confessed that she couldn't do a locator spell without Caroline's blood, or the blood of a relative.

"I can help with that!" Bonnie exclaimed, grateful to be able to contribute.

She ran upstairs and returned a minute later with a blood bag that contained enough blood to perform at least a dozen locator spells.

"Caroline gave me this, just in case of emergencies and life-threatening situations," Bonnie held the bag out to Freya. "It's her blood. She's pretty desperate to keep me alive, after losing so many people, even though as a witch, I think I would rather die than become a vampire."

Freya wasn't able to get conclusive results from the spell. She speculated that there was some sort of cloaking spell over either Caroline, or wherever she was.

An hour later, Klaus was pacing feverishly, his eyes never straying from the front gate, not wanting to miss the second that Caroline appeared, calling her cell phone—the first number on his speed dial—every two minutes, becoming more and more certain with every time he heard her voicemail greeting that she wasn't just ignoring his calls because she was still upset with him.

No, something was very wrong.

Even if Caroline was irritated with him and determined not to speak to him, she would have gotten annoyed after the first dozen calls and answered just long enough to tell him to stop calling and leave her alone.

According to the call log on his phone, Klaus had called Caroline nineteen times now. After his first few calls went unanswered, Klaus enlisted Rebekah, who was closest to Caroline, and Elijah, who wasn't and therefore would only try to contact her if there had been an emergency, to call her as well.

She wasn't answering their calls either.

Klaus tried to calm down by telling himself that she was just still upset with them, too, and was deliberately not answering phone calls from any of the Mikaelsons at the moment. It almost might have worked, if Klaus hadn't seen Katherine hang up her cell phone and shake her head at Elijah. Then Bonnie did the same. If Caroline wasn't answering calls from Katherine and Bonnie, the only two people in the house she wasn't currently angry at, then there must be something preventing her from answering her phone.

Which meant that she was in mortal danger, because as a young woman who was forever frozen at seventeen, and as a mother of young children, Caroline always had her phone within reach.

This was Klaus's worst fear: that someone would go after Caroline to try to hurt him.

Caroline had done nothing to deserve any harm coming to her or her children. Her only supposed crime had been to see the good in him, and choose to be with him.

And in return, he'd put a target on her back. Caroline had never done anything that would make anyone want to hurt her. No, this was his fault entirely. She'd left the house to get away from him after he had hurt her with his dishonesty, and then she had been incapacitated, hurt, or kidnapped by someone who had only wanted to hurt her because hurting her would hurt him.

Klaus threw his phone across the courtyard. Elijah sighed and rushed to catch it before it hit the ground and broke into pieces.

"Niklaus, you need to calm down and think rationally, or you won't be any help to anyone," Elijah instructed.

"How can you possibly ask me to be calm when Caroline has been abducted, or worse, and it's all my fault?" Klaus bellowed.

"Because yelling about it doesn't help you find her and bring her home safe," Elijah retorted.

Klaus took a deep breath.

"What would you have me do? She isn't answering her phone, and neither are her evidently useless bodyguards. It's been over an hour, she could be anywhere in the city by now. All I can do now is trace her route back home and hope we find some sort of clue," Klaus said.

"Then that's what we'll do," Rebekah responded.

Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, and Katherine ran to the bakery, then slowly and carefully retraced Caroline's steps in the direction of home.

About halfway between the bakery and the house, Klaus saw a familiar piece of plastic on the ground. It was the hot pink cover from Caroline's cell phone, which had broken in half.

Klaus picked it up, quickly locating the other piece less than a foot away. He followed the trail the plastic phone case had made towards the curb, finding Caroline's cell phone broken in half in the gutter.

"Well, now we know why she wasn't answering any of our calls," Klaus announced to the others, holding up the pieces of Caroline's phone.

"That's Caroline's, all right. I would recognize that obnoxiously pink phone case anywhere," Katherine scoffed.

"Well, if we weren't certain before, now we know that there was foul play involved. This was clearly deliberately broken, it wouldn't have snapped in half like that if she had just dropped her phone," Elijah reasoned.

Klaus clenched his fists.

"Nik? Are you all right?" Rebekah asked. "I'm sure that it will all be okay, we'll find Caroline."

Klaus whirled around and pinned Katherine to the side of a nearby building, choking her.

"This is all your fault," Klaus spat out venomously. "If you hadn't been so impatient that you weren't willing to wait for a minute while she pointed some tourists in the right direction, nothing would have happened to Caroline, because she wouldn't have been alone!"

Katherine struggled against his hold.

Elijah stepped forward, gently putting his hand on Klaus's shoulder.

"Calm down," Elijah commanded. "Let go of Katherine, she isn't the culprit, and she isn't any happier about Caroline's disappearance than you are."

Klaus reluctantly loosened his grip on Katherine's neck, and she was able to free herself, immediately backing away from him and towards the curb, where Elijah and Rebekah were staring at him with a combination of disapproval and sympathy.

"Let's keep going," Klaus said.

They made it all the way back home without seeing any more evidence that Caroline or her captors had been there.

Outside of the gate, Klaus paused, causing everyone else to come to a stop behind him.

"Where are the hybrids?" Klaus asked.

"What?" Katherine responded.

"Six of my hybrids are responsible for guarding Caroline at all times, every time she leaves the house. They were clearly incapacitated somehow, or they would have stepped in and prevented any harm from coming to Caroline. I find it unlikely that whoever took Caroline took the hybrids with them, but we didn't find them where we found Caroline's phone, so where are they?"

"Nik…" Rebekah started quietly.

When Klaus turned to look at her, she pointed through the gate, where the unconscious bodies of six hybrids lay in the courtyard.

{ }

Klaus yanked open the gate and ran inside, Elijah, Rebekah, and Katherine on his heels.

"What happened?" Katherine asked, crouching down next to one of the hybrids.

Bonnie and Freya came running at the sound of their voices, stopping short when they saw the hybrids lying on the ground.

"It looks like their necks were broken," Elijah deduced. "They should wake up shortly, with no lasting harm done, and once they do, we can ask them what happened."

It was only a few minutes before one of the hybrids started to stir. Klaus reached forward and shook him, trying to wake him up faster.

The hybrid blinked rapidly, trying to orient himself in an environment he wasn't used to waking up in.

"What happened?" he asked in a dazed voice.

"We were hoping you could tell us that, mate," Klaus answered, his tone promising torment for anyone who crossed him while he was in such an awful mood.

"I don't know what happened," the hybrid insisted frantically.

"Really?" Klaus responded. "Because you have one job: to protect Caroline at all costs. I don't care if that means you end up with your head in London and your heart in Cairo, what I care about is Caroline's safety. So explain to me how you ended up taking a little nap on my property while Caroline is missing."

"She's missing?" the hybrid gasped. "That's horrible! Who would want to hurt Caroline? She's always so nice, even to us, and we're just supposed to be invisible shadows following her around."

"What do you remember before you woke up here?" Elijah asked, sending that Klaus's anger would not lead to a productive interrogation.

"We'd followed Caroline to the bakery, since we follow her everywhere she goes. We stood outside, as part of our protocol. We don't want to disturb her, but we need to be close enough to step in if there's an emergency."

Klaus scoffed loudly.

Elijah asked the hybrid to continue.

"When Caroline, Katherine, and Bonnie left, they split up. Caroline and Katherine went one way, and Bonnie went the other. We followed Caroline, and then a man with a woman and a couple of kids stopped them and asked for directions. Caroline stopped to help them, but Katherine kept walking. We stopped and moved closer, just in case the tourists were only posing as tourists. But they were fine. Caroline told them where to go, they thanked her and left. She kept walking, but not long after, someone gave her one of those angry witch headaches, so she couldn't move, and then they did it to us to. That's the last thing I remember before I blacked out. Caroline was still conscious when they knocked us all out. And they must have done it at the same time, because I didn't see the six of us go down one at a time," the hybrid told them.

"Thank you for this information," Elijah said.

As they woke up, Klaus asked each of the hybrids to recount his own recollection of the morning's events. They all told him the same story, but none of them had seen who had broken their necks and abducted Caroline.

"Okay, what witches do you know that are powerful enough to give a vampire an aneurysm while simultaneously breaking the necks of six hybrids, that hate you, and that know about Caroline, that aren't me, Freya, Davina, Hope, and the twins?" Bonnie asked.

"Most of my witch enemies throughout history have been killed as soon as they made themselves my enemies," Klaus said. "Unless it isn't the witch who is my enemy."

Klaus dialed a number on his cell phone.

"Do you have her?" he demanded as soon as the person on the other end picked up.

"What are you talking about?" Marcel asked. "I don't have anyone. There is no one in my apartment except me."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rebekah mouth, "Marcel," to Bonnie and Freya.

"Caroline has gone missing, and if I find out that you're responsible, you will beg me to finally be allowed to die," Klaus threatened.

"Caroline is missing? Who would want to hurt Caroline?" Marcel asked rhetorically. "Look, I haven't seen her since I left your house last night, but if you want my help looking for her, I can be at your place in ten minutes."

"You really didn't do this, and you don't know who did?" Klaus asked.

"I wouldn't hurt Caroline," Marcel answered. "I'm still trying to get back in her good graces after Hayley's stunt with her daughters. If there's anything that this war between us has taught me, it's that involving more people only leads to more casualties. And I don't want that in my city. As far as I'm concerned, you and I are even. We're running New Orleans together. I'm not interested in driving you and your family out of the city, or making you suffer. Caroline is a good person—I don't know what she sees in you, but she's a good person. I want to see her come home safe and sound, too. I'll be right there."

"Marcellus," Klaus called out before he could hang up.

"Yes?" Marcel responded.

"I…" Klaus paused. "Thank you."

"Of course."

"I shouldn't have accused you."

"No, but I understand that you aren't exactly thinking clearly at the moment," Marcel dismissed breezily.

"And the person who took her was a powerful witch," Klaus added. "Is it possible that it was Vincent, or that Vincent is working with someone who would want to hurt her to get to me?"

"Vincent likes Caroline, too," Marcel insisted. "I'll bring him with me, I'm sure he'll want to help as well. We're on our way."

Klaus hung up.

"Marcel is bringing Vincent and coming here to help us search for Caroline," Klaus announced.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes," Klaus said firmly. "Even in some of our worst moments, Marcel has always been trustworthy. He is moral, and determined to protect the innocent. This tactic of using Caroline to hurt me when she has done nothing wrong would be abhorrent to him."

"Well, two more people joining the search party can't hurt," Katherine shrugged.

"We're going to find her," Rebekah tried to reassure him, placing her hand on his shoulder in what was clearly supposed to be a comforting gesture.

"We have to," Klaus replied sharply, walking as far away from his family as he could get in the limited space of the courtyard.

{ }

Klaus's phone rang, and he hastily answered it, without taking the time to check the caller ID.

"Caroline?" he answered.

"Um, no. I'm guessing you haven't heard from her either?" Alaric's voice came over the line.

"No, I haven't been able to reach her," Klaus admitted reluctantly. "Her cell phone is broken, and she's out right now."

"Yeah, I was only calling you because she was supposed to pick up the girls an hour ago, but she hasn't yet, and she isn't answering her phone either," Alaric told him.

Klaus breathed out a sigh of relief that Alaric's human hearing wouldn't be able to pick up. The twins were safe. Whoever had taken Caroline either didn't know about the girls or had deliberately chosen not to involve them. Even though he knew that they were all right, Klaus still wouldn't be completely satisfied until the twins were in his field of vision.

"I'll come get the twins," Klaus offered, darting inside to grab his car keys. "I'll be right there."

"Okay, but why isn't Caroline coming?" Alaric asked.

"That's what I'm trying to determine," Klaus snapped in response, hanging up before Alaric could respond.

"That was Alaric; Caroline was supposed to pick up Lizzie and Josie from his house an hour ago and she never arrived," Klaus announced, primarily for the benefit of the witches, since the vampires would have heard the entire conversation. "I have to go get the twins; I'll be back soon."

Ten minutes later, Klaus was parking his car in front of Alaric's house.

Not bothering with the doorbell, Klaus pounded on the door repeatedly until Alaric opened it.

"Was that really necessary?" Alaric asked rhetorically.

Hearing the door open, Lizzie and Josie came running down the hall, both wearing their Disney princess backpacks that they brought with them whenever they slept over at Alaric's house.

"Klaus!" Lizzie cheered, running up to him and hugging him around his knees.

"Where's Mommy?" Josie asked.

"That's what we have to find out," Klaus told her, not wanting to alarm the girls, but not wanting to lie to them either.

"We have to find her?" Lizzie asked in her tiny voice.

"Right," Klaus confirmed.

"Like Hide and Seek?" Josie asked.

"Exactly like Hide and Seek," Klaus answered, relieved to have found an explanation that the twins would understand without having to alarm them with the extent of the situation.

"Girls, could you wait in the living room for a minute? I have to talk to Klaus about something," Alaric asked.

Once the girls skipped away, Alaric turned to Klaus.

"Is Caroline really missing?" he asked.

"Yes," Klaus ground out, his jaw tightly clenched.

"What happened?" Alaric asked.

"Caroline went out for breakfast this morning with Katherine and Bonnie, and on their way back Caroline stopped to give some tourists directions, and no one has seen her since. I found her phone in the street, broken in half, presumably by the person who took her," Klaus explained quickly, not really wanting to relive the details.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Alaric asked. "I mean, I have a meeting with the department chair in an hour to get my syllabi approved before classes start next week, but this is an emergency, I can reschedule."

"As a human, you would actually be more of a liability than an asset on our rescue mission," Klaus answered. "In fact, it's probably safer for you, Caroline, and all of us if you simply carry on with your normal routine and pretend that you don't know Caroline, don't know that she's been kidnapped, and that her kidnapping has no effect on you whatsoever."

"What about the girls?" Alaric asked. "I can keep them here with me, out of harm's way, just let me cancel my meeting…"

"That won't be necessary," Klaus interrupted smoothly. "Either the twins' magical abilities will be helpful in finding Caroline, or they will be safer under the protection of five Original vampires."

"Okay, well, I will yield to your strategic expertise, just please keep me posted," Alaric responded.

Klaus just nodded, already walking towards the living room to collect the twins.

He shepherded them into the car, strapping them into their car seats himself because he didn't have time to wait for them to do it themselves. As soon as all of their seat belts were fastened, Klaus sped away from the curb, hurrying back to the house so that they could continue the search for Caroline.

He couldn't afford to lose any more time.

{ }

Klaus walked into the courtyard holding Josie's hand in his left hand and Lizzie's in his right.

Marcel and Vincent were already there, and everyone, including Hope and Finn, had assembled in the middle of the courtyard.

Marcel approached the twins and crouched down to their heights.

"We're all going to do everything we can to find your mommy, okay?" Marcel told them.

The twins nodded.

Marcel straightened up to address Klaus.

"Elijah filled us in on everything you know, so we were going to go get started as soon as you got back, unless you have any further instructions?" Marcel questioned.

"Whenever you're ready, go ahead. I appreciate your help," Klaus responded.

Marcel and Vincent immediately bolted out of the gate, turning left and disappearing around the corner.

Klaus looked down at the girls. Through some sort of serendipitous coincidence, none of them were wearing dresses, which would have been a hindrance. Hope was wearing a green tee-shirt with a sky blue peace sign on it, jeans, and forest green Converse All-Star sneakers, which Klaus remembered matched an identical pair of shoes that Hayley owned. Josie was wearing a black tee-shirt with a gold fleur-de-lis appliqué, jeans, and black sneakers. Lizzie was wearing a pink tee-shirt with a hood that was patterned with darker pink crowns all over it, jeans, and white sneakers with glittery pink laces.

"Nik, is everything all right?" Rebekah asked.

"Yes, I was just wondering if it wouldn't be better to take all of the children to Hayley in the bayou, where they'll be out of the way," Klaus suggested.

"No, we have to find Mommy!" Josie burst out.

Klaus was taken aback for a second. Josie was usually so quiet and calm that her sudden show of temper was out of character.

Everyone else seemed equally surprised by Josie's insistence.

"In addition to that," Rebekah added. "Have you forgotten that Hayley betrayed the twins? She probably wasn't involved with what happened to Caroline, but if the person who took her comes to Hayley's house and threatens Hope unless Hayley hands over the twins, that's exactly what Hayley will do."

Continuing to think about Hayley gave Klaus a chilling thought.

"What if Caroline's been bitten by a werewolf, or one of the hybrids was forced to bite her?" Klaus speculated morbidly. "We have to find her right away, we don't have time to go out to the bayou, or stand around here talking when we have to come up with a strategy to ensure that we find her immediately."

"We should split up," Klaus decided, doing a quick head count of everyone present. "Let's split up into pairs, with a witch in each pair so that every group has someone who can try to do a locator spell as needed, wherever we are."

Kol immediately took Davina's hand.

"I was going to say to first let the children choose who they feel most comfortable going with, but fine, Kol," Klaus scolded his younger brother.

Secretly, Klaus was glad that Davina was with Kol. While he knew that Davina liked Caroline and her children, Kol was the only Mikaelson that Klaus knew for certain that she trusted and wouldn't betray.

Lizzie ran into Rebekah's waiting arms.

Hope took Klaus's hand, claiming him as her partner.

Josie, however, didn't choose as quickly. She probably would have been with Kol if he hadn't already chosen Davina. Unfortunately for Josie, Klaus considered the safety of Caroline and his family more of a priority than the three-year-old's happiness with her search-and-rescue partner.

They all watched as Josie scanned the five other people who had not already been paired up: Freya, Bonnie, Katherine, Elijah, and Finn.

"Wait!" Freya interjected. Everyone turned to look at her. "If I'm with Katherine, then every pair will have a witch and an Original. That might help give whichever pair finds Caroline an advantage over whoever took her."

They all seemed to agree, leaving Josie, Bonnie, Elijah, and Finn without partners.

"If I may," Elijah requested formally, stepping forward while adjusting the knot of his tie. "Miss Bennett, we have worked quite well together both times we have accessed The Void. Most witches are naturally wary of vampires, yet you have willingly offered me your blood in order to make the spell work. You are Caroline's best friend, while I am Niklaus's closest confidante. I believe that the two of us must work together, as it will give us the greatest chance of finding and rescuing Caroline."

Bonnie extended her hand to Elijah.

"Maid of honor and best man," she answered with a smile.

"Josie, are you all right with working with Finn?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," the little girl chirped.

Josie walked over to Finn and offered him her small hand, which Finn uncertainly took with his own.

Bonnie handed a vial filled with Caroline's blood and a map of the city to each of the pairs.

"Call me if you find anything," Klaus instructed.

Everyone nodded, then raced off.

{ }

Rebekah took Lizzie back to the bakery where Caroline had gone that morning with Katherine and Bonnie, hoping that perhaps someone there would be able to tell them if anything suspicious had happened while she was there.

"Excuse me," Rebekah called out to the young man standing behind the counter.

The bakery was empty except for Rebekah and Lizzie and the employee, ensuring that she would have his full attention.

"My sister was in here this morning, and now she's missing. This is her daughter, my niece," Rebekah gestured to Lizzie, who she was carrying. "She's blonde, about as tall as I am, blue eyes; she was here with our sister-in-law and her best friend."

"Right, right," the young man answered. "Came in here a little after six this morning? Yeah, I remember her."

"Tell me everything you remember," Rebekah compelled him.

"She came in with two other women just after six o'clock this morning. All three of them ordered coffee and beignets. They were talking rather intensely about something that I couldn't hear. After about forty-five minutes, they all stood up and walked out, two of them turning right and one of them turning left. There were six guys standing outside while they were in here, and they followed the two that went right. I didn't see any of them after they passed the window," he recited.

"Thank you," Rebekah said. "You will now forget me, my niece, everything I asked you, and everything you told me. You will forget this entire conversation, and you will leave us alone completely until we leave, which you will not notice because you are so focused on your work."

She blinked to end the compulsion.

The young man immediately disappeared into a back room, leaving Rebekah and Lizzie alone in the café.

At a loss, Rebekah sat down at a table, setting Lizzie down on the chair next to her. Her trip to the bakery had been useless. The last person, besides Katherine, to see Caroline before she'd gone missing hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary.

She had no new information to go on, and she had no other leads on how to get new information.

There was only one thing left for them to try.

Rebekah pulled out the map of New Orleans and placed it on the table.

"Do you remember how to do a locator spell?" Rebekah asked Lizzie.

Lizzie nodded.

"Aunt Freya and Aunt Bonnie taught Josie and me how to do it. We practiced locating Uncle Kol," the little girl explained.

Rebekah took out the vial of Caroline's blood and poured the smallest amount that she thought was needed for the spell to work, about a fourth of what was in the vial.

"Go for it, baby girl," Rebekah encouraged.

Lizzie closed her eyes and clasped her hands over the map. She started murmuring the words of the spell, becoming more confident as she continued.

Rebekah watched as Caroline's blood started to move. Either the cloaking spell on her had worn off, or she was no longer being kept in a place that had a cloaking spell on it.

Lizzie finished the spell, her eyes snapping open.

"Where's that?" she asked, seeing the final result of the spell, the place where Caroline was at that moment.

"Oh, that's not good," Rebekah reacted.

{ }

Katherine had dragged Freya back to the last place she had seen Caroline.

They were standing on the sidewalk, both silently looking around and neither of them seeing anything noteworthy.

"Do you have any theories about where they came from?" Freya asked, breaking the silence.

"I never saw them," Katherine answered.

"Which means that they probably came from behind you," Freya concluded.

They scoured every alley way and shadowy corner between the place Caroline had disappeared, and the bakery's door, but they didn't find anything helpful.

"I just don't understand how they could have left no trace at all," Freya lamented.

"Really? Most people can go undetected because they don't make a spectacle of themselves. You're used to Klaus, who announces himself like a king every time he enters a room. But your friend, what's her name, Camille, apparently flew under the radar so completely that no one except Vincent remembers her," Katherine smiled sarcastically.

"I wouldn't say she was my friend," Freya corrected. "And I didn't mention her because I didn't want to hurt Caroline, who is my friend. You weren't there for the two weeks when Klaus and Caroline weren't speaking because they'd fought over Hayley. I didn't want them, or any of us, to have to go through that again."

"All I know is that Caroline was hurt, and that she shouldn't have found out about the existence of this person Klaus supposedly loved from Vincent spewing vicious accusations at him," Katherine replied.

"I agree," Freya said. "And she can yell at me about it all she wants, as soon as we find her."

Katherine agreed to Freya's unspoken request to drop the subject and return to the search.

"There has to be something we're missing," Katherine thought out loud.

"Do you want to go to the bakery?" Freya asked.

"No, I don't see the point, we were already pretty far away when those tourists approached us."

"Wait, back up," Freya said suddenly.

Katherine took a hesitant step backwards.

"No, I mean in our discussion," Freya elaborated. "I was saying that I didn't understand how they didn't leave a trace. Whoever did this didn't call any attention to themselves as they literally kidnapped someone in broad daylight, after knocking out that person's six bodyguards."

"Yeah, I know," Katherine responded, not sure what Freya was getting at.

"A scheme like that has so much that could potentially go wrong," Freya continued. "We're looking for someone who is not only a very talented witch, but also someone who's overconfident. Someone who is convinced that they wouldn't need to ambush Caroline when she was away from her bodyguards for a minute, like during a trip to the restroom, or at night, when it's more difficult to see and therefore accurately identify a suspect. This must have been meticulously planned."

"So we're looking for a very powerful, but uptight, cocky, control-freak witch?" Katherine confirmed. "It's a good thing those are so rare."

Freya laughed.

"We aren't all bad," she insisted. "Just look at the twins."

"The twins are great, but that doesn't really matter right now," Katherine retorted. "We don't really have time for you to build a psychological profile of the kidnapper while Caroline is in danger."

"You're right, I thought that if we could figure out who did this, it might help us figure out where she is, but we don't have time to figure it out that way."

"Let's just keep looking where she was last seen and hope that someone else is better at this than we are and calls us when they find her," Katherine proposed, walking back over to the curb and inspecting it once more.

{ }

Elijah led Bonnie to the door of an establishment that she couldn't quite tell what it was. Her best guess would have been a coffee shop.

Bonnie's best guess would have been wrong, because when Elijah opened the door, she could see that the place was clearly a bar.

"Welcome to Rousseau's, Miss Bennett," Elijah said, holding open the door for her.

Despite the fact that it was still early morning, the place was about half-full.

Elijah led the way over to the bar, where he and Bonnie sat on two stools next to each other at the end furthest from the door.

"What are we doing here, we're supposed to be looking for Caroline?" Bonnie asked.

"We are looking for Caroline," Elijah answered. "Or, rather, we are looking for information about where Caroline is."

"And you think we can get that here, instead of somewhere where Caroline has actually been?" Bonnie asked.

"Bonnie, this bar is the place to be for the supernatural populations of New Orleans. Anyone who knows anything will come in here. We will listen and observe, which is much less time-consuming than roaming the city ourselves," Elijah explained.

"It could also take all day, which is time that we don't have," Bonnie insisted.

"When you agreed to work with me, I assumed that you were also agreeing to do this my way," Elijah replied. "I am the strategist of the family, the general who makes and oversees the plans, but rarely goes into battle himself. My siblings will have already divided themselves amongst every location that Caroline might be, but we can find out where she is without stumbling blindly across the city until we run out of ideas."

"Fine, let's try your way first," Bonnie relented.

She wasn't particularly happy about the idea, but her most effective weapon—the locator spell—hadn't worked, she didn't have an alternative to offer.

The bartender, who Bonnie recognized as Marcel's friend Josh, ambled over to them.

"Good morning," he greeted politely.

"Good morning, Josh. How is your boyfriend?" Bonnie responded. Elijah merely nodded in greeting, concentrating on listening for any mention of Caroline in the other customers' conversations.

"He's great, thanks to you," Josh beamed.

"I was happy to help," Bonnie insisted.

It only took a few minutes for Bonnie to grow impatient. She couldn't hear anything, and as far as she could tell, Elijah wasn't hearing anything either, even with his vampire hearing. People just weren't talking about Caroline.

Bonnie called Josh back over to them.

"I need to look around this place. Are there any back rooms or secret tunnels or anything?" Bonnie asked.

Josh looked confused.

"I'm looking for a friend. When I tried to do a locator spell to find them, it didn't work. I happen to know that locator spells cannot find anyone who is in this bar. I need to see if she's here," Bonnie explained.

"You can check the store room if you want, but I didn't see anyone in there when I was last in there," Josh permitted.

"Thank you," Bonnie said, sliding down off of her stool and following Josh to the store room.

Fortunately, Josh didn't linger.

Bonnie quickly searched the room and found that Caroline obviously wasn't there. While she was in the room, Bonnie took the opportunity to try to do a locator spell again.

This time, the spell was successful.

Bonnie walked back out to the bar and whispered in Elijah's ear, "I know where she is."

{ }

Finn looked down to make sure that Caroline's daughter hadn't fallen behind.

He had to give the little girl credit: she was tiny, but she was keeping up with him, even if she had to take two steps for every one of his to match his pace. It reminded him of a very young Rebekah; always running after her older brothers, intent on proving that she was just as strong and brave as they were.

Although, he'd learned that of the three girls, the one who would be most determined to prove how strong and brave they were was Hope, not Josie.

He knew that Josie had helped with the spell that had brought him back to life, even though she hadn't known anyone else who had been brought back. She'd simply been motivated by a desire to help.

At this point, even if all he knew about his little partner-in-crime was that she possessed integrity and persistence in amounts most fully-grown adults hadn't yet achieved, he wouldn't have preferred any of the other witches' company. He wasn't prepared to deal with the sweet, optimistic, emotional blonde twin's sunshine smiles or crying over how much she missed her mother already; he was even less prepared to deal with his sister's guilt over her friend going missing, which she almost certainly blamed herself for; he avoided Hope because her assertiveness, bravery, fierceness, and strength—and red hair—reminded him of Sage, who he would never see again; and he didn't trust the Bennett witch, who was once again the reason he was still alive, or Davina, who he still wasn't convinced was loyal to his family rather than Marcel.

While everyone else had charged off with a purpose, like they knew exactly where to look for Caroline, Finn wasn't so certain.

He liked Caroline; she was unfailingly kind and warm, and he appreciated how she made his brother more tolerable to be around. But he still didn't know her well enough to have any idea of where she might be.

"Where in New Orleans has your mother taken you?" Finn asked Josie.

"A hotel, a bench, our house, a dress store, the mall, the airport, and Daddy's house," Josie answered promptly, as if her mother's survival was dependent on how quickly and thoroughly she answered the question.

"Well," Finn tried to explain using logic a three-year-old would understand. "You can't hide someone on a public bench, you know she isn't at your father's house because you were there earlier, and I know she isn't at our house because I was there earlier. Would you like to try a locator spell again before we check the other places?" Finn asked, already dreading taking the little girl to the airport and hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Josie nodded. Finn handed her the map and the vial, though he had to pour the blood for her after she had trouble with the stopper.

Josie muttered the words of the spell with a quiet confidence that Finn wouldn't have expected from such a young witch.

"It worked," Josie announced, showing him the map. "She's there," the little girl pointed. "Where is there?"

"Let's go find out," Finn said, attempting to smile at her for the first time.

Josie smiled back, offering Finn her hand. Finn ignored it in favor of picking her up and carrying her, so that she didn't have to struggle to keep up this time.

{ }

While everyone else had ventured out into the city, Kol and Davina had chosen to stay and search the Mikaelson mansion.

"You guys have a dungeon in your basement," Davina said. "Plus, any of your enemies who are close enough to the family to know about Caroline, probably know that Klaus was locked up down there."

"Way to put salt in the wound," Kol replied. "They kidnap his girlfriend, sending him all over the city looking for her, only for him to find out that she was in his house, where he himself had been held hostage, the entire time."

"Exactly," Davina agreed. "And isn't that what Klaus would do in that situation? He doesn't just retaliate with an eye for an eye, he finds whatever is going to hurt a person most and strikes there. Whoever did this knows him well enough to give him a taste of his own medicine."

They'd found the hidden door in the courtyard wall and opened it, making their way down the stairs.

"But how would they have gotten her down here without any of us noticing?" Kol wondered.

"There's a tunnel from the basement of Rousseau's into the basement of your house, didn't you know that?" Davina asked.

"And how would they have been able to drag an unconscious body through a bar without anyone noticing?" Kol continued.

"It was seven o'clock in the morning?" Davina answered uncertainly. "I don't have a good answer for that."

When they reached the bottom, they saw that no one was in the dungeon, the chains and empty manacles thrown uselessly to the floor.

"According to Josie, when Nik was down here, there was some sort of invisibility spell on him, so that even if someone managed to make their way down here, they wouldn't see him. Josie and Lizzie had to remove the spell before they could get him out of here."

"How did they do that?" Davina asked, hoping that whatever they had done would be simple enough that she could replicate it quickly.

"They're siphoners, darling," Kol said apologetically. "I'm sure there's a spell, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head."

Davina raised her hand and began working on a basic magic removal spell, hoping that it would be enough to reveal Caroline if she was being held in the dungeon.

A few minutes later, it became clear that there was no invisibility spell in the room, and there was no one present except for Davina and Kol, who now looked at each other questioningly, wondering what else they could try, where else they could look.

Because they were underground, neither of them had any cell service, and therefore they both missed over a dozen phone calls from Rebekah, Bonnie, Elijah, and Finn.

{ }

Klaus, still rattled by his fear that Caroline was dying from werewolf venom, took Hope to the bayou, where she would be familiar with the landscape and he could easily destroy every werewolf if he discovered that any of them had tried to hurt Caroline.

Hope had run on ahead of him, skipping through the grass.

Klaus deliberately avoided Hayley and Jackson's home, but he searched everywhere else, looking through every screen door, in every door left ajar, on every porch, and every patio.

Hope saw what he was doing and started to copy him, except in some places she crept inside the houses, then returned a minute later shaking her head.

Klaus would have scolded her for her behavior if it hadn't been an emergency. And, of course, there was also the fact that Hope was the princess amongst these wolves, and the owners probably would have graciously welcomed her into their homes had they been present.

The more Hope ran, the more tired she became, and the more frustrated Klaus became. He was disgusted with himself for getting so emotional that he had lost any ability to think rationally. The love of his life was missing, and he and his daughter were mindlessly roaming the bayou, because he couldn't think of anything more concrete than 'she might have been bitten by a werewolf?'

He still couldn't say for certain whether or not Caroline had been bitten, or whether or not she was safe, but wandering the bayou while Hope poked her head into some of the empty houses wasn't getting them any closer to learning the answers to those questions.

"Hope!" Klaus called out.

Hope ran back to him.

Klaus crouched down to face Hope so that he could see her face as he spoke to her.

"The bayou is too big for us to search effectively this way, and drifting aimlessly through it like we've done isn't helping us get any closer to finding Caroline. I need you to try to do a locator spell again. Hopefully whatever stopped it from working before won't happen this time," Klaus told Hope.

Klaus took the map and the vial of blood—Caroline's blood, Klaus reminded himself with a grimace—and handed them both to Hope.

Hope shook her head jerkily.

"I can't!" she exclaimed.

"What do you mean you can't?" Klaus demanded.

"I don't know how to do the spell! Mom never let me practice magic!" Hope cried, her bright blue eyes watery.

Klaus pushed his hand through his hair, taking a jagged deep breath to try to keep his anger from scaring his daughter. But he was livid that he might not be able to find Caroline in time to save her—if she needed saving—because Hayley had been so determined to make Hope into a Labonair wolf princess and not a Mikaelson witch-werewolf hybrid—while simultaneously congratulating herself on having such a powerful, special daughter, which was only because she was a Mikaelson—that she had forbidden Hope from learning anything about magic.

"Hope, your aunt did this spell in front of you just this morning. And I know that she's shown the twins how to do this spell before, and I've seen them practice it more than once. Are you telling me that you've seriously never paid attention any of the times you've seen the spell performed?" Klaus asked.

"Mom never let me!" Hope repeated, tears falling down her freckled cheeks.

Klaus knew that Hope thought he was angry with her, and as much as he was frustrated with her inability to do such a basic spell at such a critical time, he was angrier with Hayley for forbidding Hope from learning or practicing magic, to the extent that Hope was convinced she wouldn't even be allowed to observe the other witches in the family using magic. Klaus would have to talk to Hayley, and he would ensure that Hope's magical education started immediately. All of their safety might depend on it.

"I don't know if there's anything else that we can do, Hope," Klaus said. "Caroline's life might depend on that spell, and you can't do it. I guess we'll just have to take our chances and hope that Freya, Bonnie, Davina, or the twins could do the spell and find out where Caroline is."

Klaus's words clearly upset Hope, who starting crying harder. Klaus hadn't meant to scare her or make her feel guilty, but he did feel the need to impress upon her just how important it was that a witch as powerful as she was learned how to use her magic so that they would never find themselves in a situation like this again.

Just then, Klaus's phone started ringing, demanding his attention.

"Yes?" he answered it, not daring to get his hopes up.

"Where are you?" Rebekah's voice questioned shrilly.

"I'm in the bayou, why?" Klaus responded.

"You have to come, now, we know where she is," Rebekah told him.

"Where?" Klaus asked, his heart pounding. Rebekah had found Caroline. Caroline was all right. She had to be. Rebekah wouldn't sound so excitable if Caroline wasn't okay.

After Rebekah told Klaus where she had found Caroline, he wasn't so certain.

The city of the dead. Rebekah had found Caroline in a cemetery. Only a morbid, twisted, macabre villain would take her there.

Klaus picked up Hope and raced back into the city.

In the cemetery, Klaus found Rebekah, Lizzie, Elijah, Bonnie, Finn, and Josie standing in a loose semi-circle facing Cami's final resting place.

And even though he couldn't see her with their bodies in the way, Klaus just knew that Caroline was lying right underneath it.

* * *

You can't have thought I would ever really hurt Caroline…

What did you think of this first (and last) Caroline-free chapter? The multiple perspectives?

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	23. Chapter XXIII: Never Seemed so Good

This is going to be my last update before Klaroline reunion day next week! I'm so excited!

Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter!

A couple of quick notes in response to reviews on the last chapter: Caroline is not pregnant yet (I think having the villain magically impregnate her while she's unconscious is majorly wrong and creepy); Cami is not coming back from the dead; Davina can be trusted, Klaus is just paranoid and Finn doesn't know/trust anyone anymore; and Hope's favorite colors are green and purple.

I'm glad that a lot of you seemed to enjoy the multiple perspectives, especially Finn's. The Finn and Josie pairing came from process of elimination, but I love them as partners in the last chapter, and I feel like they're sort of kindred spirits in a way, as they're both powerful in their own right, but more quiet and calm than their siblings with bigger personalities who receive more attention.

Also, this seems anti-climactic to say this now, but because there were some wild theories in the reviews, I feel the need to say that Caroline's kidnapping was just a warning to Klaus. Caroline was not harmed at all.

We're just getting started with the drama, lovelies. I have a future chapter in my outline dedicated to someone's "funeral or transition, I haven't decided yet." There's a lot more story left to tell!

Last chapter was unique in its complete and utter lack of Caroline—we didn't see her or hear her, and not one word of the chapter was from her perspective. And it was honestly such a challenge to write. But Caroline is back this chapter!

This chapter picks up right where the last one leaves off. I apologize for the formatting of this chapter: the second section is almost 4,000 words because there wasn't a good place to break it up.

The chapter title comes from part of a line of the song mentioned in the chapter, which I'm not telling you, because spoilers.

Happy reading!

* * *

The first thing Caroline was aware of when she sluggishly dragged herself back to consciousness was that whatever she was lying on was incredibly uncomfortable.

It was cold, and hard, with a rough texture that was very unpleasant. There was nothing underneath her head to support it, her skull aching where it was pressed against the ground.

The second thing Caroline was aware of was the voices.

"Caroline, my love, can you wake up for me please?" Klaus's voice.

"Mommy, wake up!" Josie's voice.

"Why isn't Mommy waking up?" Lizzie's voice.

"If this was your way of getting back at us, it was overkill. Wake up now please Caroline, and put us all out of our misery." Rebekah's voice.

Caroline tried to open her eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut and covered with heavy weights.

She heard running footsteps and then a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness she's all right." Freya's voice.

Some time later, there was another set of footsteps.

"Sorry, we didn't have service, we came as soon as we heard." Kol's voice.

Caroline tried again to open her eyes, but still found her lids too heavy. She tried to move her hands, but they wouldn't listen, stubbornly remaining flat on the ground. She tried to speak, but her voice got trapped in her throat, unable or unwilling to break free.

More footsteps.

"I got your text, I'm so glad you found her." Marcel's voice.

Marcel had been looking for her too?

Klaus had trusted him enough to invite him to be part of the search for her?

Someone lifted Caroline's head off of the ground, their hand supporting her neck like you would with a baby as they picked her up off the ground. As the person carrying her adjusted her weight, one of their arms holding her under her knees, the other arm supporting her back, with her head falling to the side to rest of their shoulder, Caroline could tell that it was Klaus who was holding her, from the familiar comforting way he smelled to the way her head fit perfectly on his shoulder.

"Let's get you home, my love, and you wake up just as soon as you're ready," Klaus murmured.

Then there was a rush of air, and Caroline stopped being aware of anything.

{ }

When Caroline finally opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the ceiling in her bedroom.

She was in her own bed, lying on her back, tucked in under the covers, and she wasn't exactly sure how she'd ended up there, because the last thing she could remember with any clarity was getting her neck snapped as she left the bakery earlier that morning.

Was it even still that morning? She didn't know.

Caroline felt something next to her on the bed shift.

She slowly turned her head towards whatever was moving.

It was Josie, who had reached out to poke Lizzie, who was asleep next to her on the bed.

"Lizzie, wake up, Mommy's awake!" Josie whispered.

Lizzie yawned and blinked her big blue eyes open rapidly.

"Mommy, Mommy," Lizzie cheered, leaning forward to give Caroline a hug.

A pair of hands snuck out of nowhere to stop her before she could touch Caroline.

"You have to be careful with your mother, sweetheart, she just woke up," Klaus told Lizzie.

Lizzie reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled away from Caroline, settling on Klaus's lap with a pout.

Caroline pulled herself into a sitting position, wincing as she heard her neck crack, an unfortunately side effect of having it broken.

"How are you feeling?" Klaus asked tenderly, leaving one arm wrapped around Lizzie to hold her in place and extending his other hand to Caroline.

"I'm fine," Caroline answered. "What time is it?"

"It's 11:30, you've been asleep for a few hours," Klaus told her.

Klaus gently set Lizzie down on the floor.

"Why don't you two go let your aunts and uncles know that your mother is awake, and that she should feel up to visitors in a few minutes once she gets her bearings?" Klaus requested.

Josie hopped off the bed to join her sister, and the two girls ran out of the room.

"Did you go get them from Alaric's house?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, but that's not important right now," Klaus said.

"Still, thank you for getting them," Caroline acknowledged.

"Caroline, are you in any pain at all right now?" Klaus asked.

"No," Caroline replied, slightly confused.

"And are you under the influence of any other spells or compulsion right now?" he asked again.

"No," Caroline responded. "Whoever it was who attacked me just broke my neck. That's all they did to me."

Klaus pulled Caroline into his arms and held her close.

"I'm sorry, I had to make sure that this wouldn't hurt you," he murmured in her ear.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" Bonnie asked.

"Come on in, Bonnie!" Caroline called.

Bonnie tentatively pushed open the door, leaving it open behind her.

"Katherine was right behind me," Bonnie explained apologetically. "Something as insignificant as a closed door is not going to stand in her way."

Bonnie sat down carefully on the edge of Caroline's bed, just as Katherine entered the room.

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Caroline replied.

Caroline wasn't sure what had happened while she'd been unconscious, of course, but she assumed it must have been fairly dire for everyone to continually keep asking her how she was feeling and if she was okay.

"How are you feeling?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline smiled slightly and sighed.

"Why do you all keep asking me that? I feel fine. I got my neck snapped and woke up in my own bed. This is not even close to the worst thing that's ever happened to me," Caroline answered.

Bonnie and Katherine exchanged sympathetic looks, assuming Caroline was talking about the abusive experience with Damon that she'd revealed to Katherine only hours earlier.

"Right, of course," Katherine recovered quickly. "We just wanted to make sure that no one hurt you or did a spell on you while you were out of it and couldn't protect yourself."

"I also wanted to know if you were feeling up to company," Bonnie added. "I think the twins are keeping the Mikaelsons at bay with the sheer power of their cuteness, but even that may not work forever."

Caroline wasn't sure she was ready to face the Mikaelsons. She wasn't sure if they were going to smother her in apologies, or if they'd already forgotten why she'd been upset with them in the first place. Caroline looked up at Klaus, still holding her tightly, yet so gently, like she was made of glass; with pure love and overwhelming relief radiating in his eyes, and she realized that ready or not, the Mikaelsons were her family now, and she couldn't isolate herself from them.

"Let them in," Caroline allowed.

The vampires, who were able to hear her, led the charge into the room. Rebekah was the first through the door, heading straight for Caroline. She had seated herself next to Caroline, wrapping an arm around her friend, by the time Kol and Elijah entered the room.

Next to enter was Freya, with Lizzie trailing after her. Davina sought out Kol as soon as she was over the threshold. Then came Finn, looking a little reluctant and lost, being pulled by the hand and encouraged by Josie, who was, to Caroline's surprise, apparently quite successful, since Finn sat down without complaint and without looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. Bringing up the rear was Hope, who avoided eye contact with her—and with everyone else. Caroline made a mental note to find out what had happened to Hope while she'd been gone.

"If you wouldn't mind, Caroline, could you please tell us all what happened earlier? If there are changes that can be made to our security procedures that can keep you and the rest of the family safer, then we should make an effort to implement those changes based on the threats we're facing. And forgive me if this sounds callous, but this incident could have been much worse if your children had been with you at the time," Elijah said.

"Of course, obviously I want to keep the girls as safe as possible, too," Caroline agreed. "When we left the bakery, we split up because Bonnie had to go to the store to get some ingredients for a spell, and Katherine and I were going home. About halfway home, a family of tourists asked for directions, so I stopped to help them. Katherine got impatient and left, telling me to catch up to her when I was finished helping them. Once I sent them off in the right direction, I kept walking towards home, and I heard these voices behind me."

"Voices? What voices?" Klaus asked.

"I don't know, I didn't recognize them," Caroline answered. "One of them said 'That's her,' and then the other one said that I wasn't very pretty, and that was when they gave me one of those horrifically painful angry witch headaches. They must have snapped all of the hybrids' necks, but I didn't see them do it. I didn't see them at all, they were behind me the whole time. Then the first voice said that they weren't there to make judgments, and the first voice reluctantly agreed and said 'Nighty-night, sweet Caroline' before snapping my neck. That's the last thing I remember clearly before I woke up here."

Elijah must have picked up on her specific word choice, because he asked, "Is there anything you remember unclearly?"

"I'm not even sure if this really happened, or if it was some sort of unconscious fever dream, but I was lying on the ground, and it was really cold and uncomfortable, and then all of you were there, and then I don't remember anything else," Caroline said.

"That was real," Klaus informed her. "That was when we found you, and then we brought you back here."

"Where exactly did you find me?" Caroline asked.

Everyone looked away, suddenly finding the decorations in the room or their own clothing fascinating.

After a moment, Rebekah let out an exasperated sigh.

"We found you in the cemetery," she said. "Whoever kidnapped you, left you on the ground in front of Cami's grave."

"Undoubtedly to send me a warning of what they are capable of and willing to do to you if I anger them or am uncooperative," Klaus added tensely.

"That's twisted," Caroline responded. "'Look what happened to the last blonde girl who fell in love with Klaus. We can make sure it happens to you, too.' If they were trying to give me the creeps, it worked."

"It was scary in there," Lizzie chimed in.

"You brought my children to a graveyard?" Caroline exclaimed.

"Well, yeah," Rebekah admitted. "Lizzie was the first one to find you."

Caroline looked over at Lizzie, who shyly hid her face under Rebekah's arm. Caroline wasn't surprised by Lizzie's ability to do a locator spell, since she knew the spell was simple and that Bonnie had also mastered it early in her magical education, but Lizzie's interest in magic had always seemed limited to fairy godmothers in Disney princess movies.

"That's great, sweetie, I'm so proud of you!" Caroline praised.

Then Caroline looked back up at Rebekah.

"But how is it that she was successful when no one else was, and why were the adult witches unable to do a simple locator spell? Did the people who took me hinder your magical powers somehow?" Caroline worried.

"We tried when you didn't come back, but it didn't work, leading us to believe that there was a cloaking spell either on you, or on the place where you were. When we split up to look for you, some of the groups decided to try the spell again, and found that it worked. Rebekah and Lizzie were the first group to try and the first to find you. But Elijah and I, and Finn and Josie did the spell too and weren't far behind," Bonnie explained. "After a few minutes, it became clear that the other pairs either hadn't been able to or hadn't thought to try the spell again, because they hadn't shown up, so we called them and then they came. We weren't able to wake you up, so Klaus just carried you here and ordered us all to let you rest while he stood guard. And no one had the heart to kick the twins out, so they got to stay, too."

"Can someone please explain what happened while I was abducted? Because I could have sworn I heard Marcel while I was out, but I didn't know we trusted him enough to involve him in our rescue missions," Caroline requested.

"Marcel only got involved after Nik called him accusing him of being the one who had kidnapped you," Rebekah explained.

Caroline turned to glare at Klaus.

"That was mean and uncalled for!" she told him.

"Well, I'm sorry sweetheart, but when the love of your life has gone missing, you aren't exactly thinking rationally!" Klaus retorted.

"I'm aware of that," Caroline responded coolly, reminding him that she had once been in the same position, with the added danger that anyone who had been strong enough to restrain Klaus would also be more than powerful enough to stop her from getting to him.

"You're right; I apologize, my love," Klaus said, lifting Caroline's hand and placing a soft, gentle kiss on the back of it, like a chivalrous knight pledging his undying loyalty, service, and devotion to the queen he loved.

All of the other adults looked on in awe.

"Okay, well, now that the Klaus tamer has worked her magic, maybe we can continue with the story?" Katherine suggested.

"Please start from the beginning and tell me everything," Caroline pleaded.

"Okay, then I have to start," Katherine agreed. "I arrived at home, and Klaus came zooming out of the house. When he saw it was only me, he was quite disappointed and tried to strangle me."

"Klaus!" Caroline scolded.

"I needed to find out why you weren't with her," Klaus insisted. "And I couldn't have her running away to avoid me, as is her modus operandi. So, I felt that it was necessary to restrain her."

"Anyway," Katherine continued, waving at Caroline to say that while her intervention on Katherine's behalf was appreciated, it wasn't necessary and that they should all move on. "Klaus asked me where you were, and I explained that you were right behind me, because you'd stopped to help some tourists. Elijah intervened and I explained to him what happened. A few minutes later, Bonnie showed up. After that, we called your hybrid protection detail, none of whom answered their phones, and then Freya and Bonnie tried a locator spell, which didn't work. Then we all called you, but you didn't answer any of us."

"After Elijah narrowly prevented Nik from destroying his own phone in frustration, we decided to retrace your steps and go to the bakery," Rebekah continued the story. "We found your phone, broken into pieces, in the street, but that was the only evidence that you had been there. We were just discussing the whereabouts of your hybrid body guards on the way home when I noticed them through the gate. All six of them were lying in the courtyard with broken necks. We interrogated each of them as they woke up, but none of them had seen who had taken you, since they had snapped the hybrids necks first. Bonnie asked us about powerful witches we knew, which is when Nik got it into his head that whoever took you might have been working for Marcel, and called him in a rage, only for Marcel to insist that he liked you and would never hurt you, as well as offer his and Vincent's help searching for you."

"Then Alaric called me, looking for you, since an hour had passed since the time you had agreed upon for you to pick up the twins," Klaus added, trying to move the story away from his regrettable behavior. "So I went to Alaric's house and picked them up. Alaric offered to reschedule his work obligations to keep them with him, but I thought that they might be helpful in finding you, and I knew that they would be safer with any one of us, let alone all of us, than they would be with Alaric. I brought the twins back here, by which time Marcel and Vincent had arrived. They claimed that they had only been waiting for me to come back before they left, and they gave me the idea that we should split up into pairs so that we could cover as much area as possible, as quickly as possible."

"We arranged it so that each pair would have an Original and a witch, hoping that that would give us an advantage if we had to confront your captor. Kol chose Davina, Lizzie chose Rebekah, Hope chose Klaus, I was paired with Katherine, as the only Original witch and non-Original vampire, Elijah decided that working with Bonnie was the most effective strategy, and Josie and Finn were the last two left partner-less," Freya took over the story. "We decided to go back to where Katherine had last seen you with the tourists to do a more thorough search of the area."

"We searched the dungeon downstairs, but we didn't find anything, though being down there meant we had no cell phone service and didn't know that everyone was calling us to tell us that they'd found you," Kol said.

"I took Lizzie to the bakery and compelled the teenager working there to tell me everything they remembered about you, which turned out to be nothing I didn't already know, so I asked Lizzie to try the locator spell again, and it worked," Rebekah explained.

"Elijah took me to a bar," Bonnie offered. "The one where the locator spells can't find anyone. Except locator spells work just fine when you're doing them inside the bar, looking for someone outside of it."

"Unlike everyone else, I didn't really have a destination in mind," Finn added. "So we just walked down the street for a while before I asked Josie where you had taken her in the city, then I asked if she wanted to try a locator spell again before we searched all of those places, and the spell worked."

Caroline turned to Klaus, the only one who hadn't spoken.

"Hope and I went to the bayou," Klaus reluctantly admitted. "I'd worried earlier that you had been bitten by a werewolf, and I couldn't shake that fear, so I wanted to know if you'd been hidden there. We didn't find you, obviously, and we came back when Rebekah called me. Once everyone had arrived, I carried you home and brought you to your room, where you woke up on your own a few minutes ago."

"Wow," Caroline shook her head in disbelief. "I'm sorry that you all had to go through all of that."

Klaus immediately tightened his grip on her.

"Nothing is more important than your safety," Klaus insisted. "No one here resents you for the fear and anxiety we felt while you were captured. We are all just glad that you are home safe now."

Rebekah, Freya, and Bonnie nodded emphatically.

"The only people we blame for this are the people who did this to you," Freya reassured her.

"Is there anything else you remember about them that might help us find them and retaliate against them?" Klaus asked.

"I never saw them, and they only each said two sentences that I could hear," Caroline said.

"Was there anything distinctive or memorable about their voices?" Klaus asked.

"Actually," Caroline remembered. "One of them sounded sort of like Rebekah, except older, maybe. I think. She was the one who recognized me and pointed me out to the other one, but she wasn't as mean and she wasn't the one who snapped my neck. That one was completely unfamiliar to me."

"You said that the witch who broke your neck called you 'sweet,' perhaps she knows you better than you thought, and knows that you are a kind, caring individual," Elijah speculated. "And that's a rather unusual compliment to give a grown woman, which may be a clue that this witch is significantly older than you, and isn't necessarily being unkind to hurt your feelings, but to prove to you that she is older and wiser and shouldn't be underestimated."

Caroline looked at Bonnie, then they both looked at Elijah, then they looked back at each other.

Then they burst out laughing.

The adults in the room looked at them like they were crazy.

Caroline looked around the room and quickly realized why no one had gotten the joke. Rebekah, Kol, and Finn had spent so much time daggered, the three girls were very young, Davina had had a very sheltered childhood, Katherine had been on the run, Klaus had been searching for a way to break his curse.

"It's a song," Caroline gasped out through her giggles.

Elijah didn't look convinced.

"'Sweet Caroline,' it's a song? A rather popular one, too, so I'm surprised everyone who wasn't daggered when it was released has never heard of it?" Caroline continued.

"That's perfect! I'm going to call you 'Sweet Caroline' from now on, it will drive Nik crazy!" Kol beamed.

"You wouldn't be the first," Caroline replied.

"To call you that, or to drive Nik crazy?" Kol bantered.

"Both."

"We've wandered quite far away from the original topic," Klaus himself scolded them.

"Right, sorry," Caroline said. "But seriously, everyone should listen to the song, just so we're all on the same page. Have one of the children teach you how to use YouTube."

"Caroline, focus," Klaus ordered in the most stern tone of voice he'd ever used with her, which was still rather gentle and loving, compared to how he talked to the rest of the world, but serious enough for her to know that what he was asking was important. "Your description of the witch who sounds like Rebekah concerns me. I need you to think hard, and try to remember if you have ever heard my mother speak to you."

Caroline thought for a moment. Esther was dead, wasn't she? Klaus had killed her, and then killed her again when the first time didn't stick. She couldn't possibly be the witch who had attacked her today.

"No," Caroline answered. "The only time I saw her was at the ball, and you refused to introduce me to her, remember? You said that she was too powerful and you didn't trust her and you didn't want me anywhere near her. She didn't talk at all at the ball, except to plot with Elena and Finn behind closed doors, but I do remember her looking at me funny, like she was judging me, even though we'd never met."

"That's my fault," Klaus winced. "I told her that I wasn't bringing a date to the ball and that she was lucky I was showing up at all. She was probably wondering what power you had over me that was enough to make me change my mind."

"The point is," Elijah interrupted. "That it might have been Esther who captured you. She's returned from the dead again in recent years, and may have managed to find a way to fool us into thinking she was dead the last time we killed her when she was not actually dead."

"Which would make sense, since she practically asked you to kill her," Kol pointed out. "We should have known that she had a trick up her sleeve."

"How many times now has Esther died?" Bonnie asked.

"Six, I think," Kol answered.

"Even if you aren't certain that it was Esther's voice you heard, she is still a suspect," Klaus said. "She has seen me with you, and more than that, she has seen that I am happy with you. She knows that there are not many people who make me happy, and that makes you one of only a few viable targets if her goal is, once again, to kill her children and all of the vampires in their sirelines."

"Well that makes me feel safe," Caroline deadpanned.

"You're perfectly safe; I'm never letting you out of my sight again," Klaus insisted.

"Anyway," Elijah continued as if none of them had interrupted. "Everyone remain vigilant and keep an eye out for Esther, if it was her that abducted Caroline. Also, be on the lookout for the other witch, who others among us might know even though Caroline didn't."

"Meeting adjourned!" Kol exclaimed, rushing out of the room with a jaunty wave, Davina at his heels.

Finn left as well, followed by Katherine, pulling Elijah along with her.

Freya and Rebekah lingered.

"Caroline, about earlier…" Rebekah started.

"Katherine and Bonnie talked some sense into me," Caroline said. "All is forgiven."

Rebekah and Freya both visibly relaxed and smiled. They paused for a moment, uncertain.

"Oh, come here," Caroline ordered, reaching her arms out for a hug.

Rebekah and Freya wasted no time, each rushing over and wrapping their arms around Caroline—a giggling mess of thin, pale limbs and shining blonde hair.

After a few minutes, Rebekah and Freya each picked up one of the twins and left the room. Bonnie exchanged a knowing look with Caroline before following after them.

"I have to go give your hybrid bodyguards new instructions to keep an eye out for Esther, I will be right back, my love," Klaus said, giving Caroline a kiss on the cheek before flashing out of the room as well, finally leaving Caroline alone in her room.

{ }

"Caroline?" a little voice demanded her attention.

Caroline turned to see Hope, still standing in the corner, wringing her hands nervously.

"Oh! Sorry, Hope, I didn't see you there. I thought you left with the twins," Caroline said.

As she moved closer, Caroline was able to see that Hope's lower lip was trembling and her eyes were glassy.

"Hope, what's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"I'm sorry," the little girl apologized.

"What are you sorry for? None of this is your fault," Caroline tried to reassure her.

"I couldn't do it!" Hope cried, burying her face in her hands.

"What couldn't you do?" Caroline asked, trying to remain patient, but internally wondering if what Hope couldn't do was speak in complete sentences. At this rate, it could be hours before she got to the bottom of what was making Hope so upset.

"I couldn't do the spell!" Hope elaborated in an anguished voice. "I couldn't do the locator spell like everyone else could, and Dad yelled at me, and he said that you might have died because I couldn't do the spell!"

Caroline considered the best way to handle this situation, which Hope probably didn't even realize was a minefield for her.

Caroline wasn't Hope's mother. She didn't feel comfortable disputing something that Hope's father had told her, and it wasn't her place to interfere in Klaus's interactions with his daughter or Hope's magical education. From what Hope had said, Caroline could deduce that Klaus was annoyed that Hope hadn't yet mastered simple spells that the twins were already capable of, but she didn't want to assume or give Hope advice that might contradict what Klaus wanted.

"I'm all right, Hope, and I'm not upset with you," Caroline told her. "If it's important to you to learn how to do that spell, I'm sure that Freya or Bonnie or Davina will gladly show you how to do it and help you practice it, and I have every confidence that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

"Really?" Hope asked.

"Yes, really," Caroline smiled. "You get that from your dad."

Hope smiled in response.

"I just don't want my mom to be mad at me either," Hope added. "She won't let me use magic. She says my magic is too strong and I don't know how to control it and I could hurt myself."

Not for the first time, Caroline cursed Hayley for putting her in the middle of another conflict. As Hope's mother, Hayley had more say over Hope's magical education than Caroline did, but Hayley's method, quite frankly, made no sense and she knew that Klaus would agree with her assessment. Of course Hope couldn't control her magic: she'd never been allowed to even try.

"I can't overrule your mom, even if I wanted to," Caroline said carefully. "But if you ask me, the only way to learn is to practice. I don't see how you can learn to control your magic if you never practice using it. And I think that once you learn how to control it, having such strong, powerful magic will be a gift, not a curse."

"Thanks, Caroline," Hope said, now in a visibly happier mood.

Hope skipped out the door, and using her vampire hearing, Caroline was able to hear her approach Freya and the twins, practicing a spell, and ask them to show her again.

{ }

Klaus returned less than a minute after Hope left.

"Hope was just in here crying and apologizing for not being able to do a locator spell, which apparently you told her might have led to me dying?" Caroline challenged, her eyebrows raised.

"I was just trying to impress upon her what a great responsibility having magic as powerful as hers is," Klaus explained. "I wasn't trying to scare her, and I wasn't nearly as angry at her as I am at Hayley."

"But you were at least somewhat angry at Hope," Caroline concluded.

"I was certainly frustrated with Hope's inability to perform a simple spell that was of vital importance to finding and rescuing you," Klaus admitted. "A spell that I knew Freya and Bonnie had practiced extensively with the twins, yet Hope hadn't bothered to pay attention any of those times? She explained that Hayley forbid her from learning about, using or practicing her magic, which Hope interpreted to include observing other witches using their magic as well. Hayley is so determined to mold Hope into this perfect little werewolf princess that she's practically forcing her to pretend she isn't a witch, even though we all know that that won't work. It's like teachers tying students' left hands behind their backs—it didn't make them any less left-handed, it just caused all sorts of other problems for them. She hides behind this excuse of Hope's magic being too strong and powerful for her to control, but she'll never learn how if she's never allowed to try. Plus, no one knows how her untriggered werewolf temper will affect her magic. We can't having her setting the house on fire because she's angry about something."

"Have you said any of that to Hayley?" Caroline asked. "She may have never thought about it that way. She won't want to do anything that might put Hope in danger, and from what you told me, not learning to use her magic properly might have negative consequences."

"My plan was to go give her a piece of my mind once I knew that you were safe and settled here," Klaus said.

"I am safe and settled, go ahead and go," Caroline replied. "You don't have to put your whole life on hold to watch over me every second of every day."

Klaus looked crestfallen after he heard Caroline's words.

"I see," he said in a strained voice. "Are you still upset with me? Would you like me to send someone else up here to keep you company?"

"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked, confused.

Klaus took a tentative step towards her, so that he was close enough to take her hand again.

"I understand, if you blame me for what happened today," Klaus said. "It's entirely my fault that someone tried to hurt you, because they only did it because they knew that hurting you would hurt me. And I know that you were already upset with me when you left, and this definitely did not help my case. So, if you want to have nothing to do with me anymore, if you want to take your children and leave, I won't stop you. I'll miss you every second I have to live without you, and I'll still love you endlessly, but I won't stop you if you want to leave."

Caroline was shocked. Well, she wasn't shocked that Klaus had a rather fatalistic attitude towards relationships, but she was surprised that he thought she wanted to leave him, and she was surprised that he would let her go. She had faith in his promise to be her last love, and she was devastated that he could give up on that so easily.

"I'm not mad at you!" Caroline insisted. "Believe it or not, Katherine actually took your side and pleaded your case, and Bonnie—my best friend who has known me my entire life—reminded me of how much you love me and of how happy I am with you. Unless you want me to leave. Which I can understand, because I keep starting these fights because I'm insecure about all of the people you've been with, but, I mean, you're a thousand years old, of course you've had relationships and slept with and loved, and even had a daughter with people who aren't me, and I don't know why I keep getting so upset by it."

Klaus took her hands in each of his and laced their fingers together, looking at her sincerely, his heart in his eyes.

"If I have to spend every second of every day until the end of time proving to you how much I love you and how important you are to me to make you believe it, then that is exactly what I will do," Klaus vowed. "I will make absolutely certain that you never question or doubt how much I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life."

Caroline burst into tears and threw her arms around Klaus's neck, crying on his shoulder as she clung to him. Klaus gently moved her to sit back down against her pillows, sitting next to her and letting her cuddle into his side and throw her legs over his lap.

"I love you," Caroline whispered. "Even if loving you gets me kidnapped."

"I love you, far too much to allow anyone or anything to harm you ever again," Klaus replied.

"Do you really think it was your mother who did this to me?" Caroline asked.

"I think that she would do anything to hurt me, and unfortunately, she chose to hurt me using the very effective method of hurting you," Klaus answered.

"That makes me sad," Caroline said, hugging Klaus a little tighter. "Do you have any ideas as to who the other witch was?"

"I have no shortage of enemies, my love," Klaus responded.

"I think it might have been Vincent's wife," Caroline suggested. "It makes sense, right? Vincent was upset about Cami and wanted to take it out on you, and what better way to get revenge than to use the girl that, in his eyes at least, you're using to replace her? I've never heard her speak, so I wouldn't recognize her voice, and we wouldn't suspect anything, because Vincent showed up here with Marcel to help look for me. And, I don't know how she did it, but if there's anyone who could figure out a way to come back from The Void without using Bonnie's spell, it's Esther, but I don't know if anyone else could, or if she could bring someone with her. It makes sense for it to be someone we already know is alive."

Klaus pulled Caroline onto his lap so that she was facing him, her legs falling on either side of his, and his hands on her waist to keep her steady.

"You. Are. So. Brilliant!" he said, punctuating each word with a kiss.

"Really?" Caroline asked uncertainly.

"You amaze me, my perfect angel," Klaus kissed her again. "my perfect queen," another kiss. "and already a perfect Mikaelson."

Caroline took a deep breath. Maybe she should tell him while he was in such a good mood…

"Klaus? There's something I have to tell you," Caroline started.

Klaus gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"If it's about Cami, Caroline, then I need to apologize before you say anything," Klaus said. "Hearing about her for the first time from a distraught friend who had just learned that she couldn't come back to life was not how you should have learned about her, and I'm sure that was startling and uncomfortable for you, and for that I am sorry. I didn't mention her to you because I wanted you to be certain that you are the only one I love and that no one else matters to me. I didn't always treat her well; I compelled her and manipulated her for my own purposes. I even told her that I loved her, even when I knew I didn't, as she was dying, in order to assuage my own guilt about her death and her unrequited feelings for me. But I need you to know that every time I have told you that I love you, I've meant it, and I'll do whatever you ask of me to prove it."

"I believe you," Caroline replied.

"Excellent. Now then," Klaus picked Caroline up, repositioning his hands on her waist more securely as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "You have been through quite an ordeal this morning, so the rest of the day is dedicated to making you happy. What would you like to do? I can take you shopping, or out for ice cream, or to the movies, though hopefully you won't make me sit three seats away? Whatever you want."

Klaus carefully deposited Caroline on the counter of her bathroom, facing the full-length mirror. Caroline cringed when she saw her reflection.

Someone (she assumed it was Klaus, since the twins were at an age where they sometimes still needed help dressing themselves) had changed her clothes before she'd woken up. Instead of the jeans and burgundy blouse she had been wearing the previous day and into the morning when she had been abducted, she was now wearing soft black leggings and a cream tee-shirt dress patterned with gold-foil polka dots.

Someone had also tried to brush her hair, and though they had managed to get most of the larger rocks out, it was still messy and tangled. Caroline reached for her hairbrush and tried to repair the damage.

"Is it okay if I don't really want to go out?" Caroline asked. "I think I just want to stay here."

"Of course," Klaus replied. "Whatever will make you happy. I completely understand if you don't want to go out so soon after what happened the last time you left the house."

"But I need to replace my phone first," Caroline continued. "Rebekah said that it was broken."

"I would assure you that you don't need to do that today, but I know how attached you are to your phone. Let's do that now, so that you can spend the rest of the day relaxing however you so choose," Klaus responded.

As they left the house hand-in-hand, they didn't notice the witch watching them.

"Enjoy him while you can, Little Miss Sunshine," the witch said, before turning the corner and disappearing.

Neither Klaus nor Caroline heard her, nor did they see that she didn't have dark hair like Eva did.

* * *

Did you really think it would be that easy? The villains are officially revealed next chapter, as well as how they were revived (which, if you reread closely, you'll find I've actually already told you) and I hope you all think that it's worth the wait!

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	24. Chapter XXIV: Faced with the Truth

Happy The Originals season premiere day and Klaroline reunion day, my loves! Who's going to be watching?

I can't promise that I'll have it together enough to update every Wednesday, but I'm going to try to keep up this once-a-week update schedule.

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter! Thank you especially to the guest reviewer who offered so much constructive criticism and many helpful hints on how to improve my writing. I wish that you'd been logged in when you left that review so that I could read your work! Anyway, thank you for the advice! (:

Apparently my author's notes give too much away, so I'm going to try to keep them short and vague from now on. Here we go: in this chapter, there is information about two TVD characters that I'm fairly certain was never mentioned on the show, so I made it up—please just go with it. I also guessed/possibly changed the time of an event to fit the timeline of the story, so again, please just go with it—it's not like there are clocks in the background of the shows, I'm literally just going by whether it was light or dark out during the scenes. And Caroline telling Klaus about Damon will be revisited in (a) future chapter(s).

Happy reading!

* * *

"So, this Aurora person that Vincent mentioned—would she help Esther?"

Now that they had all but confirmed that Esther had returned from the dead, once again, and had abducted Caroline, Team Mikaelson was trying to determine how she had done so and who her accomplice was.

Because Caroline was in charge of the operation, they were making color-coded flash cards. Each flash card was the color assigned to the species of the person whose name was written on the card in Caroline's metallic ink pens. At the twins' insistence, siphoners were pink, with Josie's and Lizzie's names written on them in gold ink. Vampires were red, werewolves were green, witches were purple, humans were yellow, and hybrids were blue. The person's name (and the initial of the Original to whose sireline they belonged, for the vampires) was written in gold if they were family or friends, silver if they were allies, bronze for neutral parties, and black if they were current, past, or potential enemies. People who had returned from the dead were marked with a star, people who were dead had an x next to their name, and people who Esther might bring back to serve as her accomplices were indicated with question marks.

"Aurora and Esther never met, and Aurora is currently under a spell not entirely dissimilar to the one placed upon your friend Elena, so she would be both unwilling and unable to help her," Klaus answered from the seat next to her.

"Okay," Caroline said. "Do we have a symbol for 'in a magical coma' yet?"

"How about z's, like for sleep?" Bonnie suggested.

"Done," Caroline agreed, scribbling the symbol on the yellow card with Elena's name written in bronze pen, and the red card with Aurora's name written in black.

She handed Hope a purple card and a gold pen so that she could make her card herself.

"We still don't know how Esther managed to come back from the dead without Bonnie's blood, or even if she did come back from the dead, because it's possible that she tricked you into thinking she was dead. I personally think that the latter is more likely, because she may be powerful and cunning, but I don't think anyone can fool an alternate dimension into thinking they have the key to said alternate dimension," Caroline said.

Hope brought her card over to where the twins were constructing a family tree; a task that Caroline had told them was of great importance, but was actually just to keep them entertained and out of everyone's hair while they worked. They'd put the Mikaelsons in order of age, with the couples together—Katherine's card squeezed in between Elijah's and Klaus's, Caroline's in the middle of Klaus's and Kol's, Davina's between Kol's and Rebekah's—with the children's underneath their parents, though since they hadn't included Alaric and Hayley, Josie and Lizzie's cards were directly under Caroline's, and Hope's was directly under Klaus's, putting the girls' cards right next to each other.

"Mommy, Hope drew a wolf on hers!" Josie exclaimed.

Sure enough, on Hope's card was a little drawing of a wolf that was remarkably accurate and life-like for a child her age.

"Well done, Hope," Caroline complimented.

Turning back to the pile of index cards, Caroline selected a red one.

"What color is Marcel?" she asked. "And I will totally alternate letters if you aren't sure."

Klaus took the card from her, as well as the gold and silver pens. He wrote Marcel's name on the card in gold pen, then underlined it in silver.

It took them almost two hours to make all of the cards. Freya and Davina worked together to identify all of the witches they knew within the city. Rebekah and Elijah had made the cards for the vampires, both their allies and the ones in Marcel's employ. Caroline had compiled the records for the human residents of the city that she knew from her role as their representative in the council. Klaus and Hope had taken responsibility for the werewolves, though they planned to consult Hayley the next time she came to the house to pick up Hope.

"Why are we doing this again?" Kol complained.

"Because Caroline likes projects," Rebekah answered.

"Who put Caroline in charge?"

"Nik."

"And who put Nik in charge?"

"Nik."

"We should have nipped that one in the bud when we still had a chance, little sister. Now it's been hundreds of years of megalomania and there's no stopping him," Kol shook his head.

"I think the words you're looking for are 'thank you so much for keeping us alive all of these years, dear brother,'" Klaus interjected smugly.

Kol threw Caroline's purple pen at his brother's head.

"We do not throw things!" Caroline scolded.

"Oh, no! Not the mom voice!" Kol cried, mockingly theatrical.

Caroline just rolled her eyes in response.

"I still think that it was Eva," Caroline insisted. "Vincent was upset about Cami and blamed Klaus, and wanted to get revenge by attacking me: Cami's supposed replacement, at least from his perspective. He gets to show up here volunteering to help look for me, playing the hero and throwing suspicion off of himself. Since I've never heard her talk, I wouldn't recognize her voice, so I would have no idea it was her and that Vincent orchestrated the whole thing. Plus we know that she's already alive, and I can't think of anyway that Esther could go into The Void and bring anyone else back to work with her."

"Is that suspicion of someone you've only just met I heard, sweet Caroline? She's actually gone and become one of us," Kol said in awe. "Paranoia is the most dominant trait in the Mikaelson gene pool. I just had no idea that it could be sexually transmitted."

"Keep your filthy mind away from the children, please and thank you!" Caroline snapped.

"They're not even paying attention!" Kol defended himself, gesturing to the girls, who had completed their task and wandered into the kitchen in search of a snack.

"Kol." Klaus growled, shooting his brother a warning glare.

Kol raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Caroline tuned out the dispute between them in favor of listening in on the girls in the kitchen, who were expressing their disappointment that Caroline had reorganized the cabinets to make sure that all of the cookies and candy were placed on shelves that were too high for the children to reach.

"Do not climb on the counter so that you can reach the cookies," Caroline ordered without turning around.

"How does she know?" Josie whispered, baffled yet impressed.

"I'm your mother, I know everything," Caroline answered.

The three girls trudged back into the dining room.

"Staring at these cards all day isn't going to help us find a clue. We need to either find new information or come back and look at them with fresh eyes later and hope we think of something we didn't before. I'm taking a break. Come on, girls, let's go play," Caroline announced, leading the girls upstairs.

{ }

It was another week before the solution occurred to Caroline.

All of them had poured over the flash cards they'd made, searching for answers and finding none.

Caroline, Bonnie, and Elijah were the serious students. They had memorized the cards and could recite any individuals' information upon request. The theories they suggested were always well-thought-out and supported by facts they were certain of, only to be disproven by contradictory information that one of the other two pointed out.

Klaus, Rebekah, Kol, and Katherine took the matter just as seriously, but their method was to rely on their own experiences. Every once in a while, one of them would share a personal story or anecdote about the person who Caroline, Bonnie, and Elijah were studying. Their theories were more abstract—and more unlikely.

Freya, Finn and Davina were much quieter, fading into the background as seven other voices dominated the conversation. They would chime in with an observation when they felt it was important and they were the only one with knowledge of the pertinent information, but for the most part, whatever theories they were working on stayed inside of each of their heads.

Caroline and Katherine had both taken a break to get a blood bag from the refrigerator at the same time. Caroline had taken her usual B positive—something that Katherine and the Mikaelsons teased her about, because they thought it was adorable that her motto and her food source were the same. Katherine, who wasn't as choosy, thanks to a life on the run, had grabbed a bag of A negative from the top of the pile.

"That was my father's blood type," Caroline remarked absently. "It's too weird for me to drink it voluntarily. Or my mother's."

"What was her blood type? Just so I know which ones you're avoiding," Katherine asked.

"Hers was A positive. Mine is, too," Caroline answered.

"Of course it was. You would have an overachiever's report card running through your veins and a diet that consists of your annoyingly cheerful slogan," Katherine replied, but Caroline wasn't listening anymore.

She looked at Katherine, standing next to the refrigerator, drinking from her blood bag.

"I've got it," Caroline said.

"You've got what?" Katherine asked.

"I know how Esther was able to come back from The Void without Bonnie's help."

{ }

Katherine grabbed Caroline by the wrist and pulled her back into the dining room, where everyone had either overheard what she had said, or had been informed of her comments by someone who had.

"Explain," Elijah said in a tone that was inviting and supportive, but that clearly left no room for argument.

"It's like Rh factors," Caroline started.

Everyone looked lost.

"Rh factors are a protein in a person's blood. If you have them, your blood type is positive, if you don't, it's negative," Caroline explained.

"We know that, we're just not sure how that's related to The Void," Rebekah replied.

"Katherine just asked me my parents' blood types. My mother was A positive and my father was A negative, which isn't a problem. But if it had been the reverse, it could have been dangerous for any potential children my parents might have had after me," Caroline continued.

"You're an only child, Care," Bonnie said.

"I know that, but that's how opposing Rh factors work. It doesn't matter if the mother and the baby have opposing Rh factors during the mother's first pregnancy, but once that connection between the mother's womb and her bloodstream is established, if the baby is Rh positive and the mother is Rh negative, her body will make these antibodies to try to destroy the blood with the Rh factor, which is the baby's."

"Bonnie sending Elijah into The Void the first time established a connection between this dimension and The Void, which implies that people could theoretically go back and forth, now that you've essentially created a secret passageway between them," Caroline said.

"So, in your analogy, this first trip into The Void is like the first pregnancy?" Elijah asked, looking slightly disturbed by the comparison.

"Yes!" Caroline confirmed, feeling like they were finally starting to understand her explanation.

"And the people in The Void are like the blood, who, now that the connection between the dimensions has been established, have a potential opportunity to travel to our dimension?" Elijah asked.

"Exactly!" Caroline replied.

"As informative as that comparison was, Care, it doesn't explain how Esther, or anyone else for that matter, could have gotten back without Bonnie's blood," Rebekah pointed out.

"That's because she didn't need it," Caroline answered with a smile.

Finn's jaw actually dropped. Caroline had to exert effort not to laugh.

"How do you figure that, my love?" Klaus asked.

"I was just in the kitchen, with Katherine, while she was drinking blood, which reminded me that neither time I've been present while Bonnie has done the spell has she given Elijah her blood to give to the people in The Void that he's been sent to retrieve. But Katherine, and Finn, and Davina are all sitting here, perfectly healthy and alive, which means that Bonnie's instructions were meant literally: a person needs Bonnie's blood to get into The Void, but you don't need her blood to get out of it," Caroline explained. "Mystery solved. And all we needed was to listen to Bonnie, which I do, and a rudimentary understanding of the unit in tenth grade biology dedicated to the reproductive system, which I have."

Klaus picked Caroline up and twirled her around.

"Where would we be without you?" he asked when he set her back down on the floor, then kissed her before she could respond.

"How did I not figure that out earlier?" Bonnie wondered. "I should know by now that witches always mean things literally. I should have paid more attention to the spell's requirements."

"It isn't your fault, Bonnie," Kol insisted. "No one else figured it out either. We were all so excited about the prospect of being reunited with our loved ones to consider the consequences. I can't remember anyone even asking if the people coming back would need your blood as well, or if they didn't, what that would mean for people we didn't want coming back but who might try on their own."

"Plus, even if you had known, would it have stopped you?" Katherine asked. "Would the possibility that Esther and other past enemies might be able to come back have stopped you from bringing us back?"

"No," Elijah answered. "Even knowing the risks, I still would have gone."

Caroline grabbed a notebook and a pen and opened to a blank page.

"Okay," she said. "Let's write down everything we know."

"Bonnie's blood is required to get into The Void, but not to get out of it," Caroline said aloud as she scribbled the list in her notebook. "The only people who know the spell to get into The Void are everyone in this room, Hayley and Jackson, and Marcel, Vincent, and Josh. Using the spell forged a connection between this dimension and The Void, which we think means that people from The Void can come back without needing Bonnie's blood or the spell. Do we think they need the spell? Maybe there's a different spell?"

"I think it's a different spell," Bonnie answered. "The spell I used is specifically for accessing The Void. The spell to access this dimension from The Void would need to be the opposite."

Caroline added Bonnie's insight to the list while she spoke.

"What else?" Caroline asked.

Earlier in the week, all of the Mikaelsons would have all answered at the same time, but after days of working together to figure out how Esther was alive again and who her accomplice was, they had learned that the only way to communicate effectively and not get scolded by Caroline was to speak one at a time.

"We know that we can only bring four people back at a time," Freya added. "And we know that it takes me, Bonnie, and either another witch or the power of the full moon to power the spell."

"And Esther is at least as powerful as you are," Caroline replied. "So either it requires less energy to get here from The Void than the other way around, which doesn't make sense because it's the same distance, or Esther's witch accomplice was also in The Void and is approximately as powerful as Bonnie."

"But we had to use enough magic to get Elijah into The Void and then get him and the people he was bringing with him back," Kol pointed out. "If someone was coming from The Void, they would only need enough magic to go the one way."

"Well, we can't really test that theory, can we?" Caroline challenged. "We can't just leave someone in The Void to see how much magic it takes for them to get back. I still think Esther brought an accomplice with her from The Void."

"You spent all of the last week insisting that Vincent's wife was Esther's accomplice," Rebekah sighed exasperatedly. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Now we have new information that proves that theory incorrect," Caroline retorted.

"Let's make another list of everything we know about Esther's accomplice," Elijah proposed. "We know that she's a witch."

Caroline turned the page of her notebook and started writing their new list.

"She hates me," Caroline stated.

"You are impossible to hate," Klaus insisted.

"Well, she must not like me very much if she snapped my neck," Caroline responded.

"So she either doesn't like you, doesn't like Klaus, or is more scared of Esther than she cares about either of you," Katherine offered.

"I promise I'm not trying to play the victim here, but I think she really did have something against me personally," Caroline countered. "She said that I wasn't pretty. If she was just frightened of what Esther would do to her if she didn't obey her every command, she would have just quietly broken my neck when she found me, she wouldn't have insulted me, too."

"No, I think you're right, Care," Freya chimed in encouragingly. "If there were two powerful witches there, they could have easily incapacitated Katherine at the same time, but they waited to act until after she'd walked away, which implies that, at least at that moment, they wanted to hurt you and Klaus, and not hurt Katherine and Elijah. That could say a lot about their motives."

Caroline tapped her pen idly on the table.

"Also, I don't know if this is significant, but Esther had to point me out to her, but she knew my name," Caroline added. "Esther said, 'that's her' not 'that's Caroline,' but then the other witch called me Caroline. So she must have heard about me, probably from Esther as they were planning, but I don't think we've ever met."

"That is most definitely significant," Elijah replied.

"That doesn't narrow it down much though, now does it?" Kol asked. "A witch who's never met Caroline and died after the Other Side collapsed? That still leaves quite a lot of people."

"Well, I've told you everything I know," Caroline said.

"You were very helpful, my love, and we appreciate your insight," Klaus replied.

"Okay, I've been helpful enough for one day, so I'm going to stop staring at these cards before I start screaming at them, and go upstairs and join the girls' movie marathon," Caroline said. "Just as soon as I make popcorn."

{ }

"Okay," Caroline started speaking as soon as she entered the dining room the next morning. She wasn't the last person there by any means, but Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and Bonnie were already seated. "I don't mean to be that crazy girlfriend who needs to know about all of her boyfriend's exes, especially because I don't have that much free time, but is it possible that you were in a relationship with a witch who died after The Other Side collapsed?"

Klaus looked surprised by her question.

"Have you come up with another theory as to who the other witch was?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Caroline answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I kept thinking about how she called me not very pretty, and while I'd originally thought that she hated me, a comment like that actually made me think of human Caroline, who was insecure, and petty, and jealous. That is the sort of thing that I would think about a girl who a guy I liked chose over me. I think if she hated me because of something I'd done to hurt or offend her, she would have said so, or she would have called me a mean name. But attacking my appearance makes me think that she's jealous."

Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah all looked like they were considering the idea.

"I will defer to Caroline's expertise in the area of the behavior of young women slighted by a desired romantic partner," Elijah responded.

Caroline and Bonnie giggled at Elijah's formal tone.

"So? Answer the question, please," Caroline said. "Were you in a relationship with a witch who died after The Other Side collapsed?"

"It isn't as simple as that," Klaus insisted.

"Of course it isn't," Caroline sighed under her breath.

"Nik, are you talking about—" Rebekah started.

Klaus nodded.

"If that crazy, obsessive—" Rebekah harshly released a deep breath. "If she is back, and doing Esther's bidding again, she will stop at nothing to destroy us. Caroline, Hope, the twins, me—she'll try to kill us all."

"These conversations would be so much shorter if everyone could explain things in a straightforward, complete manner, when everyone was present so they only had to explain once," Caroline commented rhetorically. "So would you like to wait until everyone else comes downstairs to explain who you're talking about and why she'd like to kill me and my children, or will you explain now?"

Klaus sighed.

"About five years ago, before The Other Side collapsed, a group of witches brought back to life a powerful witch who lived in the early twentieth century named Genevieve," Klaus explained. "She apparently had developed feelings for me then, and those feelings resurfaced when she was revived."

"She was obsessed with you," Rebekah corrected.

"When you say obsessed, do you mean she double-texted when you didn't reply within two minutes obsessed, or do you mean picked the lock on your bathroom door while you were in the shower obsessed?" Caroline asked.

"The second one," Rebekah answered. "Though I'm sure she would have done the first, too. She was quite the attention seeker, that one."

"Did I just hear Rebekah call someone else an attention seeker?" Kol asked as he entered the room, Katherine following behind. "That might be the most ironic thing I've ever heard."

"We're talking about Genevieve," Rebekah answered.

"Oh, I wasn't alive for that one," Kol remarked nonchalantly. "But I heard she was crazy. Naturally, Nik slept with her."

Klaus gave Kol a sharp glare.

"It isn't like I hadn't figured that out already," Caroline said, exasperated. "If I cried over every person you've slept with over a thousand years, I would never have any time to do anything except cry. But if this story turns out really weird, I reserve the right to be irritated with you later."

"Of course, my love," Klaus hastily agreed.

Katherine chuckled.

"Anyway, we had a series of interactions, and there were instances where I took advantage of her magical expertise, but she convinced herself that our relationship was of a serious, romantic nature," Klaus continued.

Caroline threw her head back laughing, then rested her head on her arms on the table.

"What is so funny?" Rebekah asked, holding back laughter herself.

"This is the second time in less than two weeks that I'm hearing that someone loved Klaus and let themselves believe that he loved them in return, and I just don't understand how someone could do that," Caroline replied.

Klaus looked unsure of whether or not he should be offended.

"I mean, you have a pretty short list of people you like, and you never make a secret of it when you don't like someone. So I don't understand how someone could fool themselves into thinking you loved them. It seems really arrogant to me for them to assume that they're one of the few people you like, let alone love," Caroline continued.

"And this Genevieve died after The Other Side collapsed?" Bonnie asked, trying to refocus on the conundrum of Esther's accomplice.

"Possibly," Klaus answered.

"What do you mean 'possibly?'" Bonnie asked.

"Genevieve had been able to sense that The Other Side was in danger of collapsing, but we didn't note the exact moment that The Other Side did collapse, so Genevieve died either shortly before or shortly after it collapsed," Klaus answered.

"Bonnie, you were the Anchor to The Other Side immediately prior to its collapse, were you not?" Elijah cut in.

"I was," Bonnie answered.

"Then if anyone knows the exact time the Other Side collapsed, it would be you," Elijah speculated.

"If I hadn't been transported to a pocket dimension immediately afterwards, maybe," Bonnie contradicted. "But Caroline was there, she'd probably know better than I would."

Elijah focused his serious gaze on Caroline, making her squirm in her seat.

"Caroline, can you tell us the exact date and time that The Other Side collapsed, or at least as close to it as you remember?" he asked.

"I wasn't exactly staring at my watch when it happened," Caroline hedged. "I was a little more concerned with trying to keep all of my friends alive. I remember stumbling around the woods in the dark, and I'm pretty sure it was just past midnight when The Other Side actually collapsed, though obviously I didn't just go home and go to sleep right afterwards; we had to try to figure out some semblance of a plan as to where to go, how to try to help our friends who hadn't come back from The Other Side. So if it was after midnight like I think it was, it would have been the second of May? May 2nd, 2012," Caroline added the full date with a raise of her eyebrows, not sure why Elijah was prodding her to be so specific.

"Genevieve was killed on May 2nd," Klaus said. "But later in the day. The Other Side must have already been gone for hours."

"Why and by whom was she killed," Caroline asked. "And is it weird that you remember the date and time of day that she was killed?"

"Hayley killed Genevieve using the knife that was used to kill her, because Genevieve had planned to kill Hope, claiming that she was an abomination that could not be allowed to live," Klaus answered.

"Saint Hayley killed someone? I thought murder was reserved for us hideous vampires, not perfect Wolf Queens whose pointless wars magically never have any casualties!" Katherine mocked. "Did she actually admit to killing her, or is she still insisting that all of the dozens of people she's killed have accidentally or coincidentally just spontaneously stopped living after she tore out their hearts?"

"As to your second question, sweetheart, the reason I remember the date is because it's the day Hope was born. I hope that remembering my daughter's birthdate is not 'weird' by your standards," Klaus continued.

Caroline hoped that her face didn't betray how confused she felt.

"Uh oh, that's not a 'feeling warm and fuzzy because you're such a good daddy' face," Katherine taunted.

"No, it's nothing," Caroline insisted, shaking her head. "It's actually really fitting that Hope was born in May, because her birthstone is emerald and her favorite color is green, and that she's a Taurus, because she's so stubborn and determined. That's just not when I thought she was born. I mean, it isn't like I know, or want to know, when Hope was conceived, and it isn't like you were in any position to be sending out birth announcements. I just thought she was born earlier in the year, that's all."

"Have I really not told you Hope's birthday before now? I should have; I know how much we both love birthdays. No wonder you were confused," Klaus said apologetically.

"It didn't come up," Caroline shrugged. "I'm just not sure that it's a coincidence that The Other Side collapsed on the same day that the magical loophole miracle baby, Mikaelson witch, werewolf princess—who defies every rule of nature just by existing—was born."

"Normally, I would agree with you, love, but since you've told us that The Other Side collapsed a few hours before Hope's birth, I'm not sure that she had anything to do with it. As rarely as I believe in coincidences, I think this might be one of the few times when I must," Klaus replied.

"While this topic of conversation is quite interesting, and your attention to detail has often been quite helpful, Caroline, the more important matter at hand is that Genevieve was killed shortly after the collapse of The Other Side and was therefore in The Void, thus making her an option for Esther's accomplice," Elijah said.

Caroline took out a purple card and wrote Genevieve's name and a question mark on it with her black pen.

"Now what do we do?" she asked.

{ }

They didn't have to do anything.

Exactly two weeks after Caroline's kidnapping, Caroline, Klaus, Rebekah, Freya, Bonnie, Katherine, and Kol were supervising Hope, Josie, and Lizzie as they played in the courtyard when, all of a sudden, it started pouring down rain.

At first, Caroline thought nothing of it. Random, torrential rain was common during summer in the South. It would rain for maybe an hour or so, then the sun would come out, dry up the pavement, and would be like the storm had never happened.

They shepherded the girls inside the dining room, giving them each a Disney princess coloring book and a box of crayons, hoping to stave off the whining about having to come inside that they were surely about to hear.

For a few minutes, Lizzie quietly colored in Rapunzel's dress using pink and purple crayons, Josie grumbled a little about the uselessness of white crayons as she colored in a picture of Olaf, and Hope used a blue crayon to copy the outline of Flounder printed on the page.

Then Hope started screaming.

"Daddy, it's trying to get me!" she shrieked.

Klaus immediately swooped in and grabbed Hope, checking her over to see if she was injured.

"She doesn't seem to be hurt," Klaus reported, his voice tense and his eyes anxious.

Freya stepped forward and put her hand on Hope's head.

"It's a spell," Freya announced. "Someone is using a spell to summon Hope, and it's probably the same people who kidnapped Caroline."

"Who we've concluded are Esther and Genevieve," Caroline added.

"But the spell isn't working," Freya continued. "Hope can probably feel the spell trying to dig its claws into her, which is what's making her so uncomfortable, but if the spell was working, Hope would be gone and we'd have no chance at catching up to her."

"Why isn't it working? What is stronger than the Original Witch?" Bonnie wondered.

Hope, still screaming in her father's arms, thrashed until she was facing them again, her green-sneaker-clad feet kicking furiously, half of her white tee-shirt still turned the wrong way, revealing only half of the shiny sea-green star screen printed across the front.

Freya pointed to Hope's chest, and almost all of them thought she meant Hope's shirt.

Except Katherine.

"The protective amulets I got for the girls are spelled to protect them from compulsion, possession, and most spells," Katherine reminded them. "They're spelled to protect against the spells themselves, not the witches casting them. So if the witch in question got frustrated and decided to just punch them in the face instead, the amulets won't stop them. But on the flip side, it doesn't matter how powerful the witch doing the spell is, because the girls' necklaces will protect them from the spell, no matter who is using it."

"Thank you, Katherine," Caroline said, feeling like someone should express their gratitude towards this gift again, now that it had proved itself useful.

"Can you stop the spell entirely?" Klaus demanded.

"I can't do anything more than her necklace is already doing," Freya shook her head. "But those two probably can."

Lizzie and Josie looked up when they felt everyone staring at them.

"Girls, do you think that you can try to help Hope?" Caroline asked.

The twins nodded furiously and agreeably ambled over to Klaus and Hope. They each took one of her hands and closed their eyes.

Their efforts didn't seem to have much of an impact at first, but after a few minutes, Hope's screaming dwindled down to soft whimpers, then heavy breathing as she stopped crying and tried to get her breathing back under control.

Klaus leaned down and gave each of the twins a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you," he told them.

"You're welcome," they grinned back.

That was the scene that Elijah walked in on, immediately removing his sopping suit jacket and draping it over the back of the nearest chair. His concerned gaze quickly scanned over Hope, Katherine, Klaus, and then twins.

Once he was reassured that everyone was all right, he asked, "Would one of you be so kind as to explain why there is a torrential rainstorm above our property, and only above our property?"

{ }

Sure enough, when they all trudged back outside, they saw that the rain was only falling inside the gates. The rest of New Orleans was enjoying a pleasant summer day. If that alone didn't make it obvious enough that the weather was a magical phenomenon rather than a natural one, no one looked twice at the mansion, implying that they couldn't see the rain.

"Why do weird things like this keep happening?" Caroline complained. "I'm going back inside."

Caroline took the twins' hands and led them back into the dining room, the rest of the group following after.

"What exactly are the 'weird things' to which you are referring, Caroline?" Elijah asked.

"The night that Bonnie and Freya did the spell to send you into The Void the second time, it got really warm in the courtyard. And the bannister randomly broke off the staircase. And a painting changed colors," Caroline listed.

"Did anyone else notice any of these things?" Elijah asked.

Caroline frowned. Did Elijah not believe her? Was she not trustworthy?

Elijah must have noticed her expression, because he said, "I believe that you saw these things, I would just like to know if you were specifically targeted, in which case no one else would have seen them, just as no one can see the rain except for us; or if all of us are the targets."

"I've seen everything Caroline has mentioned," Klaus immediately vouched for her. "I saw that painting change, I saw the bannister fall, and I felt the temperature increase in the courtyard. Everything Esther has done to Caroline, she has done to me as well."

"I wasn't there for whatever happened with the painting, but I was for everything else," Katherine chimed in. "And so were you, so I think we have plenty of evidence that everyone in this house is a target, not just Caroline, and not even just the Mikaelsons."

"Very well, then," Elijah conceded. "Esther clearly wanted to scare us, but she deliberately chose not to harm any of us. Even when she abducted Caroline, she returned her to us rather quickly, uninjured."

Klaus wrapped his arms securely around Caroline.

"Perhaps physically unharmed, brother, but leaving her in front of Cami's grave was clearly meant to send me a message. But I will ensure that no one ever hurts Caroline again," Klaus proclaimed.

Caroline turned in Klaus's embrace so that she was facing him. She stretched up to whisper "I love you," in his ear and give him a kiss on the way down. He didn't respond verbally, but he tightened his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"I understand and appreciate your vehemence, Niklaus, but we have no way of knowing what Esther and Genevieve will attempt next. It is also of vital importance that we protect the children," Elijah responded.

"Of course. I thought that would go without saying," Klaus agreed. "I think that the best strategy for us to adopt right now is to continue about our ordinary day-to-day activities as if we are not concerned about Esther and Genevieve at all. Regardless of how powerful they are, there are still only two of them and nine of us, not including Caroline and the children, or allies that we are confident will assist us if asked, like Marcel, Vincent, and Josh, and Hayley and Jackson."

Elijah nodded his assent and excused himself to go work in his office. Kol and Bonnie left to fill Davina in on the situation, and Rebekah, Katherine, and Freya led the girls upstairs to watch a movie.

"I love that you want to protect me, but you can't promise me that no one will ever hurt me again," Caroline told Klaus as soon as they were alone in the dining room. "I'm not a weak little damsel in distress that you can keep in an ivory tower somewhere. I want to help fight alongside my family, and if Esther and Genevieve try to hurt the girls, I will intervene. You may not want to hear this, but they are my children and I will give my life for them if it comes down to a choice between them or me."

"That won't happen either," Klaus easily dismissed.

"How can you be so sure?" Caroline asked.

"Because I would give my life for you," Klaus answered. "Easily, and without a second thought or a regret. And if that happens, it would mean that Esther won and the supernatural world would fall into chaos, so you'll need to take the children and run. Go so deep underground that no one would ever find you. Change your names, dye Hope's hair if you have to. Tell everyone that your husband served in the military and was killed overseas; people always have sympathy for widows, especially ones with young children."

"It scares me that you've put so much thought into this," Caroline confessed.

"There is no price I would not pay for your safety," Klaus replied.

Needing to get far away from the topic of Klaus's hypothetical demise, Caroline hid her face against Klaus's neck, and as she shifted, she felt a piece of heavy paper in his pocket that she hadn't noticed before.

"What's this?" she asked, holding it up, the side with the writing facing him.

Klaus took the card from her to get a better look. His whole body tensed as he read what was printed on it.

"Elijah," he called, knowing his brother would hear.

Within seconds, Elijah was standing next to Klaus, with Rebekah, Katherine, and Kol hovering in the doorway.

"Genevieve has requested a meeting."

Klaus handed the card to Elijah, who managed to conceal his reaction better than Klaus did, but he still looked unnerved.

"What do you plan to do?" Elijah asked.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Klaus answered.

"What is going on?" Rebekah demanded. She, Katherine, and Kol approached Klaus and Elijah, then Rebekah plucked the card from Elijah's hands to read herself.

"This is atrocious," Rebekah spat, racing out of the room.

Katherine had a disgusted look on her face when she finished reading, but she put her hand on Caroline's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Care. I'm sure Klaus already has a scheme in the making."

Caroline took the card and read it herself.

It wasn't the overly affectionate salutation, the lamentation of how long it had been since they'd last seen each other, or the date, time, and address of where and when she'd requested the meeting to take place that worried her.

It was the closing line.

 _'Come alone, or next time she won't come back alive.'_

* * *

I know that there was a lot of new information in this chapter, so if you have any questions or need clarification, please let me know in a review or a message so that I can answer/clarify.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	25. Chapter XXV: Your Heart is my Symphony

Who else loved Klaroline in The Originals' season premiere?! I promise I won't write all of my thoughts here, but I will say that I loved their scenes together. I loved their husband and wife/king and queen dynamic, I love how well they still know each other and how much they still care for each other, I love how Caroline calls Klaus out on his flimsy excuses… I loved everything, and like Klaus, I turned into a heart eyes emoji the entire time they were together (:

Just a friendly reminder that this story is ignoring the events of season five just as it is ignoring the events of season four(:

Since I promised to let you know, I have (finally!) chosen the Klaroline baby's name.

Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter, and thank you very much to every who helped this story achieve the milestones of 50,000 views and 300 followers! I'm so grateful and excited that people actually seem to like my writing, so thank you all so much for reading!

I'm glad everyone understands and even seems to like the explanation for how the villains made it out of The Void, but we aren't quite finished with Void-related drama…

Since some of you have asked (and some of you more than once) we are less than five chapters away from Caroline's confession about Damon, and less than fifteen (seriously?!) away from the introduction of the Klaroline baby, which I'm already worried is not what you're expecting. It's more malicious than just 'a man and a woman fell in love and decided to start a family.' We're also less than ten chapters away from a major character death (which I will warn you about in that chapter's author's note). That's not too specific, is it?

Answers to other questions from reviews: Hope and her magical education is not going to become the focus of this story, and Hope and Caroline will bond, but it won't happen overnight.

Chapter title comes from a song I like, 'Symphony' by Charlotte OC, which was actually used in an episode of _The Originals_ last season.

Happy reading!

* * *

No one had been able to convince Klaus not to go to the meeting.

He'd gotten it into his head that meeting with Genevieve as she requested was the best way to proceed. When Caroline and Elijah had tried to find out why Klaus was voluntarily playing by Genevieve's rules, he argued that spending an hour or less in the witch's company was a small price to pay for Caroline's safety and an opportunity to learn more about Esther and Genevieve's plan. Genevieve, Klaus insisted, was the weak link, especially when he was the one pulling on the chain.

Caroline wasn't exactly pleased that Klaus was going to spend time with an ex—well, sure wasn't sure exactly what Genevieve was to Klaus—but she knew that nothing would stop Klaus once he'd made up his mind.

Klaus met all of their worry with a roll of his eyes and insistence that he was the most powerful creature on Earth, so he could most certainly handle a meeting with a witch who he had previously been able to convince to do his bidding. Caroline argued that as the self-proclaimed most powerful creature on Earth, Klaus shouldn't be scared of Genevieve's threats, and therefore had no need to follow along with what she wanted. Klaus had simply replied that she wasn't the most powerful creature on Earth.

Caroline hadn't had the heart to argue with him about that.

Eventually, all of them had stopped arguing with him at all. Caroline and Elijah had been the last to surrender. Rebekah and Kol put up a valiant effort, but quickly realized that their big brother was at least as stubborn as they were and that trying to convince him to change his mind would be futile. Freya had adopted a similar strategy, but capitulated to Klaus's demands to stop challenging him sooner than her younger siblings. Katherine asked if he was sure he wanted to go, and when he said yes, she told him he was being stupid, and that was the end of her argument. Bonnie offered to try to find another way to find out what Genevieve knew, but Klaus refused. Davina and Finn didn't say anything, assuming that Klaus wouldn't consider their opinions at all and not seeing the point in offering them.

Klaus insisted that he would be fine and instructed them all not to worry.

But she did worry about Klaus. He was so busy trying to keep her safe, and keep Hope safe, and keep the twins safe, that she feared an enemy might be able to slip past his defenses because he was so preoccupied worrying about them.

And she worried that Klaus was trying too hard to change to prove himself to her somehow. Caroline loved how romantic Klaus was being, with his grand promises of doing everything he could to make sure she was always safe and happy with him, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to always be the perfect Prince Charming or she would leave. Just because Caroline could see the good in Klaus, the human part of him, didn't mean that she wanted him to strip away the huge part of his identity that was the all-powerful Original Hybrid.

Just because Caroline couldn't forget all of the horrible things Klaus had done, didn't mean that she didn't love him anyway.

{ }

"Do I make you weak?"

Klaus looked at Caroline in the mirror they were sharing, surprised by her question.

"Did Elijah put you up to this?" Klaus asked.

"No, why?" Caroline replied.

"I told him once that love was a vampire's greatest weakness," Klaus answered. "I would not consider it unlike him to force me to eat my words."

"Oh," Caroline responded. "Well, Elijah didn't ask me to ask you that. I was just wondering, because, I mean, you're Klaus Mikaelson, Original Hybrid, but now you're jumping through hoops to try to keep me safe, and I worry that you're trying to change for me and I want you to know that you don't have to."

"Caroline," Klaus turned her so that she was facing him, her back to the mirror. "I was wrong. Love is not a vampire's greatest weakness. It isn't a weakness at all. Loving you has made me stronger than ever, because I have something to fight for. You, and our daughters, and my siblings. Perhaps I have changed, but it isn't because you forced me to. I want to be someone who is good enough to deserve you, someone who the girls can look up to. If that means less bloodshed and more diplomacy, then that's what I'll do."

Caroline felt a proud smile unfurl across her face.

"As long as you're sure that I haven't ruined you, and you wouldn't have bothered with this meeting and would have just killed Genevieve already if it weren't for me," Caroline said. "Now let me go, I have to finish my makeup."

Klaus reluctantly released Caroline, who took a pink blush from the bathroom counter and brushed it over her cheeks.

"You're beautiful without it. And I would have taken the meeting even if she hadn't threatened you," Klaus assured her. "War is a mental game, my love. Manipulating Genevieve into giving away the weaknesses in the plan is far easier than just attacking blindly, and it requires far less strength and resources."

"But what does it require?" Caroline asked, applying a little eyeshadow. "I mean, you wouldn't sleep with her to get information if that's what she wanted, right? Where are you drawing the line?"

"I would never do that to you," Klaus stated, even though her question had been rhetorical and they both already knew what his answer was. "I am not going to touch her. The only thing I am offering her is her life when we inevitably win, if she can prove to me that once again, Esther is the brains behind the operation and Genevieve is just an accomplice."

"Are you nervous?" Caroline asked.

Klaus smiled.

"If I were nervous, then you would be right about me getting soft," he said. "This is just a minor inconvenience compared to what I'm willing to do to keep you safe. Speaking of keeping you safe," Klaus pushed up his sleeve.

Caroline sighed.

"I still can't believe that you're making me do this," she lamented.

Klaus held his wrist up to Caroline's face. She grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on his palm.

"Caroline," Klaus chided.

"Fine, fine," Caroline relented.

She held Klaus's wrist as she sunk her fangs into his skin and drank his blood, just as she had every day since she had been abducted. Klaus's fear that she had been bitten by a werewolf or hybrid and he wouldn't be able to save her in time had clearly affected him more than he had been willing to admit out loud, because he insisted that she drank his blood every day so that she would always have the cure in her system. Caroline could understand where he was coming from: he couldn't preemptively protect her from a stake through the heart, or from her heart getting ripped out of her chest, or from getting kidnapped again, but he could shield her from this one thing. So she let him.

When she finished, Caroline dropped Klaus's wrist and laced her fingers through his, then doing the same with their other hands.

"I love you," Caroline said, leaning up to give him a quick kiss.

"I love you," Klaus replied, leaning in for another kiss.

Caroline let Klaus lead her out of their bathroom, through the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the dining room.

"Are you ready?" Elijah asked.

Klaus nodded.

"I had hoped that you might have reconsidered my idea of having someone observe your meeting, undercover, so to speak, so that you have an ally present if Genevieve decides to try anything," Elijah continued.

This idea of Elijah's was news to Caroline. Elijah had never brought it up when she was present, and Klaus had never mentioned that Elijah had suggested it.

"No," Klaus answered firmly. "We have to comply with her demands this time, just while she could prove useful to us. And the only options we have are Katerina, a newly-turned vampire, and Bonnie, both of whom Esther and Genevieve might have seen while they were sneaking up on Caroline. No, I'm doing this myself."

"Still, I would feel more comfortable if we were able to know what was happening," Elijah said.

"How about you just call us?" Caroline suggested. "When you get there, call one of us and put the phone on speaker so that we can hear what you're both saying. That doesn't break her rules. You have to come alone, but that doesn't mean you can't have reinforcements waiting on standby if something goes wrong."

"That is a very well thought out plan, love," Klaus praised.

"It is a good idea," Elijah agreed.

An hour later, Caroline, Elijah, Rebekah, Freya, Kol, Katherine, and Bonnie were all in the courtyard seeing Klaus off.

"Stay vigilant in case this is just a distraction so that Esther can attack the house while I'm gone," Klaus instructed. "I'll call Caroline when I get there, and I should be back within an hour."

Then he sped away, disappearing around the corner.

{ }

Caroline's phone rang five minutes later.

They were all sitting at the dining room table, except for Davina, who had volunteered to supervise the girls, taking her turn to give them their magic lesson so that Freya could be available to help her brother if needed and Bonnie could find out what Esther and Genevieve knew about the dimension she had created. For the past few weeks, the three adult witches had taken turns helping the young witches with their magic, or they had all worked together so that the girls could have one-on-one assistance if they needed it.

As soon as Klaus's name and contact picture showed up on her screen, Caroline's hand shot out to put the call on speakerphone so that they could all hear.

"Is everyone ready?" Klaus asked quietly.

"Yes," eight different voices answered at slightly different times.

"Good," Klaus replied. "Because Genevieve just arrived."

There was quiet, distorted noise as Klaus pretended to hang up the phone and put it out of Genevieve's sight. Then they heard footsteps as she approached.

Genevieve got so close to Klaus that they could practically hear her breathing through the phone, then they heard a disgruntled sigh as Klaus stepped away from her.

"Genevieve," Klaus greeted tersely.

"You've missed me, haven't you, Nik?" she asked in a voice that was clearly meant to be seductive.

Caroline mimed gagging when she heard it, causing Freya, Kol, and Bonnie to have to cover their mouths to keep from bursting out laughing and giving them away.

"Not at all," Klaus answered. "And don't call me that."

"Straight to business, then?" Genevieve said.

"If you wouldn't mind," Klaus responded smoothly.

"Fine," Genevieve agreed. "We mean you no harm."

Again, various members of the Mikaelson family had to try to restrain themselves from laughing.

Caroline grabbed a notebook and a pen, quickly scribbling, 'Is she serious?' on the first line of a blank page and putting it in the middle of the table so that everyone could read it.

'She's delusional,' Rebekah wrote back.

"Really?" Klaus replied. "Because you and my mother have wreaked all sorts of havoc on my family, which makes it very difficult for me to believe that you truly mean us, or even just me, any harm."

"We needed to get your attention," Genevieve insisted, a pleading tone to her voice. "You wouldn't have taken us and our threats seriously if we hadn't shown you what we're capable of."

"You haven't even made any threats yet," Klaus pointed out. "You have played silly pranks, and you have sent foolishly bold messages that only served to make me angry. Did you really think I would be bothered by a painting changing color or the temperature of my courtyard rising? I wasn't even planning to retaliate against you for that, but then you hurt Caroline, and for that I will make you beg for death."

There was a pause, and Caroline worried that Genevieve had made a silent strike against Klaus. She was relieved when she heard the voice of a waiter taking their orders. If she really was the brilliant Mikaelson strategist that Klaus thought she was, Caroline might have been able to deduce something about how the meeting was going from the fact that Klaus ordered only coffee and pancakes, while Genevieve ordered a full breakfast platter, complete with eggs, hash browns, and bacon. Then again, she already knew that Klaus wasn't planning on staying long.

Once the waiter walked away, Klaus continued speaking.

"I don't know why you asked me to meet you here, and I don't know how you're even alive," Klaus said. "So start talking, now, and if I can tell that you're telling the truth, and you really are just a hapless servant of Esther's, I might just spare your life."

Caroline glanced over at Elijah, who looked slightly impressed and proud at how quickly Klaus had turned the tables on Genevieve and taken control of the meeting. Despite her threats and demands, Genevieve was now the one on defense.

"Fine," she snapped. "Not that it makes any difference if you know how we made it here."

"After the wolf girl you impregnated killed me, I ended up in this… wasteland. It was different than The Other Side. There was no connection to the real world anymore, there was no sense of time passing, there was just nothingness. When I was on The Other Side, I felt like I was a ghost, floating above the sky. I couldn't interact with anyone living, but I could still see what was happening, even if they couldn't see me."

Caroline grabbed the notebook and added everything Genevieve was telling Klaus to their list of everything they knew about The Void.

"Some time later, Esther arrived. It wasn't long before she started working on a plan to escape. I offered her my help, expecting her to remind me that I'd tried to help her with her plan to prevent the abomination from living and failed, but she allowed me to assist her."

"It was a long time before we made any progress. Then all of a sudden there was some sort of disruption in the barrier between where we were and where we are now, almost like a door had opened up in the wall for a moment and then disappeared again, but that was enough to allow Esther and me to break through it when we hadn't been strong enough before."

Caroline smiled and raised her arms in a silent cheer, celebrating that her theory had been correct. Kol bowed mockingly, making everyone want to laugh.

"When we returned to this world, it was a new moon, which we must have unknowingly channeled power from. And the amount of magic we needed to use to get back caused a storm. That wasn't one of our warnings, but I'm sure you and your family found it quite ominous, especially once we did start sending you our messages."

Caroline quickly wrote, 'I remember that. All of the girls were affected. I thought they were just scared of storms and didn't think anything of it.'

'How were they affected?' Freya wrote back.

'Lizzie was terrified and couldn't sleep, Josie had a nightmare, and Hope couldn't stop staring out the window like she was in a trance,' Caroline responded.

"I remember that storm," Klaus replied evenly. "My daughter was quite upset over it."

"Oh, please. If you're going to lie to me, at least try to make it believable," Genevieve scoffed. "There's no way that any daughter of yours would be scared of a little thunder. We already know that you've turned your house into an orphanage, you don't have to hide those other two little girls that are living with you."

Caroline was halfway out of her seat by the time Genevieve finished speaking. The twins weren't safe. She had to get to them.

Rebekah put a reassuring hand on her arm. With the other, she scrawled in the notebook, 'They know about the twins, and they didn't hurt them. They aren't the targets, and even if they were, we can keep them safe.'

"What do you know about them?" Klaus asked evenly, but Caroline recognized his dangerously calm tone as the one he used when he was contemplating murder.

"Relax, Nik, we're not going to hurt them," Genevieve said. "They're just ordinary witches, and they're not hurting us, so we have no reason to hurt them."

"I'm sure that you don't," Klaus answered. "You've told me how you came back here, now tell me why. What is it that you want?"

"We want the same things we've always wanted," Genevieve replied, her voice getting louder, signaling that she was leaning closer to Klaus. "Esther wants the abomination dead, and I want you."

They heard Klaus slam his silverware down on the table. Caroline, Katherine, and Bonnie looked around, alarmed, but the Mikaelsons didn't look particularly surprised by Genevieve's revelation. Caroline remembered Klaus telling her that they had each plotted to kill Hope, whom they felt violated the laws of nature, but it was still startling to hear one of them admit it so plainly.

"What makes you think that you can complete your mission?" Klaus challenged. "Things have changed since you were last alive. There are more of us now, and we are stronger than before. The two of you won't win in a fight against us."

"What makes you think that there are only two of us?" Genevieve countered. "We were easily able to recruit an army of witches, who gladly agreed to help us eliminate a child whose very existence threatens the balance and the future of the entire supernatural world in exchange for a way to return to life."

'I need to find a way to seal off The Void again!' Bonnie wrote.

'We'll figure it out,' Freya returned.

"And I will have no problem sending them all right back where they came from," Klaus replied. "Your army will quickly disperse when threatened. My family will fight to the death for my little girl. I'm sure you saw how we reacted when you took Caroline. Should either of you try to do anything to Hope, you'll find that our response will be just as quick and effective in returning her home safely. And then we will kill you."

A steely resolve washed over them as they listened to Klaus's words. Everyone sitting at that table would fight to the death to protect Hope. They would willingly kill and die if that was what it took to keep her safe. And all of them were family, even those who weren't Mikaelsons by name.

"I don't think either of us believe that you would actually kill us," Genevieve said. "Your mother and your former lover? You couldn't kill me last time, you had to delegate that task to someone else. Someone who didn't love me."

Katherine rolled her eyes and began scribbling frantically in the notebook. After a moment, she showed them all her work: two circles that would have been a Venn diagram if they had overlapped. One circle was labelled, 'People Klaus loves,' and the other was labelled, 'People Klaus doesn't love.' In the first circle, Katherine had written Caroline's, Hope's, Elijah's, Rebekah's, Kol's, and Freya's names. In the other circle, she had written, 'Literally everyone else on the planet.' She'd written, 'Why does she still not understand this?' underneath her drawing, once again forcing everyone to cover their mouths to make sure they didn't start laughing out loud.

Rebekah took the notebook and pen from Katherine and wrote something. Caroline assumed it was a reaction, but when Rebekah passed the notebook back to her, she saw that the other vampire had added Lizzie's and Josie's names to the first circle.

"I have killed my mother several times over the centuries and I have no qualms about doing it again," Klaus corrected. "And you have been marked for death since you abducted Caroline and threatened to kill Hope. I'll kill you both and not lose a minute of sleep over it. You said you wanted me? I will never be yours. I never was. I never loved you and I never will."

'Wow. Harsh.' Katherine mouthed to Caroline as they exchanged surprised looks.

"We were just trying to teach you a lesson," Genevieve cried. "We tried to tell you that we'll take everyone you care about from you until you give us what we want, but you didn't listen."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Klaus shot back. "If I didn't listen to your threats on Caroline's life, I wouldn't have come."

They heard the waiter clear away their plates and leave the bill on the table, so they knew that this meeting would be ending shortly.

"So you take us seriously at least some of the time, that's good," Genevieve replied. "But some of the time won't be enough. I thought that you were a great strategist and a great king, but you can't possibly be if you're willing to sacrifice everything for a child you didn't even want and a newly-turned vampire who's nothing special."

"We're done here," Klaus announced. "Mark my words, the next time I see your face will be the day I kill you. And you can pass that message along to Esther as well. I've had countless enemies over the centuries, and the only thing they had in common was that I was victorious over all of them."

"I wouldn't be so hasty," Genevieve warned. "We could have shoved a stake through poor Caroline's heart just as easily as we snapped her neck, but we didn't, because we don't want to be heartless murderers like you vampires are. We are simply concerned about what we have heard might come to pass if this flagrant violation of the laws of nature continues uncorrected."

"Neither of you will harm Caroline or my daughter," Klaus growled out. "I promise you that you will be unsuccessful in your attempts to hurt Hope. I don't care how powerful you think you are, we are stronger, and this time we will make sure that you end up in Hell where you belong, even if I have to reopen it myself."

They heard Genevieve stand and let out a wistful sigh.

"It didn't have to be this way," she lamented. "We could have been happy together, you and I, without the little werewolf mutant and the baby vampire who's too stupid and too weak to defend herself. But you've made your bed, Niklaus Mikaelson, and now you have to lie in it."

And with that, Genevieve walked away.

{ }

Klaus returned less than five minutes later.

He walked into the dining room, Davina and the girls trailing after him. Klaus and Davina joined everyone already seated at the table, while the girls went over to their kids' table.

"I compiled a list of everything we learned from the meeting," Caroline announced.

"Good," Klaus replied.

"So, our first priority has to be—"

"Our first priority is keeping you and Hope safe," Klaus interrupted. "So you two are on lockdown, at least for the foreseeable future. Neither of you are going anywhere without me and at least one other Original."

Caroline and Hope whined in unison.

"What about Mom?" Hope asked.

"Your mother will understand," Klaus answered. Noticing the questioning looks in response, he amended his statement, "I will explain the situation to her, and she will have no choice but to accept it."

"I understand putting these safety measures in place for Hope, but don't you think it's excessive to have them for me, too?" Caroline asked.

"No, I don't. Why do you think that it is?" Klaus questioned.

"Because Genevieve told you what they want, and it isn't me," Caroline replied. "Yes, they will take me out if I get in their way, same as anyone else. But I'm not the target. Genevieve was just being petty, and Esther wanted to show you what they were capable of. Mission accomplished. You took them seriously enough to attend that meeting, didn't you? I doubt that they'll bother with me again, because compared to Original vampires and Bennett witches, I'm not that important. It's more important to protect Hope, and if you have me under lock and key with an Original bodyguard, that means that there are two vampires who could be guarding Hope, who aren't."

"They threatened your life," Klaus reminded her. "I don't care how important they think you are, I know how important you are to me, and therefore, you need to be protected. End of story."

"Fine, fine. I will submit to house arrest, are you happy?" Caroline sighed.

"Incredibly."

While Caroline was pleased that Klaus took her safety so seriously, she certainly wasn't happy that she would be forbidden to leave the house without guards. And though she knew that Klaus suffered from a thousand years' worth of paranoia, his worry often fed hers. If Klaus Mikaelson, fearless and all-powerful Original Hybrid, was worried about what Esther and Genevieve might do, then she was even more worried.

"Then, now that that's settled, our next priority has to be preventing Esther from helping any other witch accomplices from crossing over from The Void," Elijah said.

"We might also want to try to figure out who those accomplices might be," Kol suggested. "Our battle strategy would need to be considerably different if she brings back, say, the rest of the twins' coven, then if she brings back witches from New Orleans."

"That won't be necessary if we can seal off The Void," Bonnie insisted.

"And I have every confidence that if there is a way to do that, you'll find it," Kol retorted. "But we aren't even sure yet if it is possible. We don't know if we can block certain individuals from returning. We don't know if we'll find a way in time. We don't know if we'll be able to do whatever it is that we need to do, in time. I'm not trying to undermine you, I'm just trying to come up with a backup plan. The Mikaelson way is to have a Plan A, and a Plan B, and all the way through the alphabet."

Kol and Bonnie's rapport over the last few days had made Caroline curious, and even a little suspicious. She knew that they had interacted briefly in Mystic Falls, and that there had been a period of time when they had been on The Other Side together, but they had seemed especially friendly in recent weeks. Since they'd started their research on The Void and how Esther had returned, it seemed as though Kol was always the first one to offer reassurance or praise whenever Bonnie voiced a concern or proposed an idea. She would have to ask her friend what was going on between them, since she also knew from Klaus that Kol was practically obsessed with Davina since they'd met and fallen in love while Kol was possessing a witch named Kaleb. She wondered if Kol had ever had feelings for Bonnie, and if any of those feelings had lingered.

"Okay," Caroline rallied. "We need two teams: one to work on finding a way to remove the connection or pathway or whatever we're calling it between the real world and The Void; and one team to try to figure out who Esther might want to bring back, assess who strong and powerful they are, and start brainstorming strategies to defeat them. Divide yourselves however you want, but Bonnie should be in charge of The Void team."

"And what will you be doing, sweetheart?" Klaus asked.

"My fellow prisoner, Hope, and I will be coming up with ways we can be helpful while we're stuck in the house," Caroline replied. "Come on, ladybug," Caroline invited, holding her arms out to Hope.

Hope crawled into Caroline's lap as Caroline reached for her notebook that they had used earlier.

They had an odd number of people so five of them—Bonnie, Freya, Elijah, Katherine, and Finn—worked on finding a way to seal off The Void, while the other four—Kol, Davina, Rebekah, and Klaus—identified potential enemies that Esther might consider reviving.

The twins played quietly on their own for a few minutes, but soon gravitated towards the adults working at the table. Josie approached Bonnie's group, and was quickly asked for her input based on her own experience with The Void. Lizzie wandered over to the other group, and wanting to give her a task that would make her feel important, Rebekah kindly asked her to arrange the cards for them as they ordered potential enemies according to the threat they posed.

After a while, Josie hopped down from her chair and walked into the kitchen, helping herself to juice box from the refrigerator. The Mikaelsons' kitchen was almost surprisingly child-friendly, thanks to Caroline's influence. The blood bags and alcoholic beverages were stored out of the children's reach, and the cupboards were stocked with healthy foods to suit the limited palettes and nutritional needs of three growing children.

When she sat back down, she managed to pull the straw from the box, but couldn't get it out of its plastic packaging.

"Uncle Finn," she held out the straw and the juice box to him, for no other reason than she needed help and he happened to be sitting next to her.

Finn looked rather surprised at being addressed that way. It had been Rebekah who had first started the trend by instructing the twins to call her Auntie Bex, as she referred to herself, just as Hope did. Other members of the family quickly followed suit, and soon Freya and Kol were known as Aunt Freya and Uncle Kol, who both referred to their younger sister as 'your Aunt Rebekah' when talking to any of the three girls. Elijah had been slower to warm to the idea, though to his credit, he had always answered whenever the twins called him Uncle Elijah. Conversely, though Bonnie had never explicitly instructed her to do so, Hope had started calling her Aunt Bonnie like the twins did almost immediately after the older witch's arrival in New Orleans. And though Katherine had introduced herself to all three girls as Auntie Kat, they had warily called her Katherine at first, until she'd proven that she was staying in New Orleans for good, and Caroline had reassured them of her permanence in their lives.

But Finn avoided them all so thoroughly that this was probably the first time any of the three girls had addressed him since he'd been revived—maybe ever, since Caroline didn't know if Hope had been talking yet when Finn had died.

Finn tentatively took the juice box and straw from Josie, tearing the plastic wrapper off of the straw and pushing it into the juice box for her.

"Thank you!" Josie beamed at him.

"You're welcome," Finn smiled back hesitantly.

{ }

Two hours later, progress had been made, but not much.

Caroline and Hope were fully committed to their plans to operate the phone tree and turn a spare room into a nursing station in case any of the skirmishes between the Mikaelsons and Esther turned violent, but the other groups were less successful.

Lizzie was very proud of her work ordering the cards, but without knowing who Esther would consider her strongest allies, all of their predictions were subjective. They still didn't have any concrete information to go on.

"We know who we would bring back if we were Esther," Rebekah explained. "But we can't say for certain that those are the people that Esther would bring back. She's been known to be unpredictable."

Bonnie's group had been even less productive. They'd brainstormed several possible ideas, but none that they were confident enough in to try.

"I'll need to consult with the spirits," Bonnie said. "They were the ones who told me about The Void in the first place, and helped me create the spell that allows me to access it. I'm sure that sealing off The Void will require their intervention as well."

"I'm sure that once you get an answer from them, you will let us know, and we can all help to do whatever it is that they tell us to do," Elijah replied.

"There's something else that's occurred to me," Bonnie started. "I know that you all know that once I seal off The Void, I can't bring anyone else back. Even after Esther and Genevieve are defeated, if I open up that passageway again later, they can come back again, and we'll have to start the whole vicious cycle all over again."

"Right," Klaus agreed. "We've already brought back everyone we wanted to, so that shouldn't be a problem."

Bonnie shot Klaus a look that hinted at her previous feelings of disdain towards him.

"That means that if Esther manages to kill one of you, or if one of you sacrifices yourself for the others, that person can never come back. And before I do this, you all have be okay with that, or else we just have to try to fight whoever Esther can revive."

Everyone looked around the room at each other. Caroline knew that she personally would be heartbroken and devastated at the prospect of living without any of the people she now thought of as family. Bonnie, Rebekah, Freya, and Katherine were her best friends, practically her sisters; and the twins' beloved aunts. Kol was a great friend and loving uncle to the girls. Though it had taken him a while to warm up to her, Elijah now treated her like a little sister. She didn't know Finn and Davina as well, but she couldn't imagine their family unit without either of them present, plus she knew Josie adored and admired them both. And Klaus was the love of her life. She couldn't—wouldn't—live without him.

"We can't risk it," Caroline insisted immediately. Freya nodded emphatically. Elijah looked thoughtful. After a moment, Rebekah nodded as well. Katherine looked concerned and uncertain. Klaus's face remained impassive. Finn looked confused, and Davina looked threatened. Kol shook his head. Bonnie wore an expectant look on her face, waiting for everyone else to come to a consensus.

"If we allow Esther to bring back more accomplices, there's a greater chance that one of us will end up getting killed," Kol countered.

"But that way, if you died, it would only be until Bonnie could do the spell to send someone to bring you back," Caroline argued. "If The Void is sealed off, you would be dead permanently."

"There's a very simple solution to the problem you're imagining," Kol retorted. "We just won't get killed. We're Originals; we're fairly difficult to kill. Of everyone here, you and Hope are the weakest, and you two are forbidden from leaving the house. You're worried over something that will never happen."

"Kol, stop arguing with Caroline," Klaus ordered. "Your recklessness will get you killed. Caroline is just trying to keep this family intact. I agree with Kol that it would be very difficult for Esther to kill any of us, but we don't know if she has a white oak stake in her possession. We don't know if she's come up with some other way in which we can be killed. I think that Caroline is right to worry. There are too many variables to make as permanent a decision as sealing off The Void without having more information."

"That reminds me," Bonnie cut in. "This might not just affect any future hypothetical deaths."

"How do you mean?" Elijah asked.

"I'm not sure exactly how everyone we brought back from The Void remains anchored to this dimension," Bonnie explained, looking around at Katherine, Finn, and Davina. "The connection between this world and The Void may be what's keeping them here, and closing off The Void may force them all back there."

* * *

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	26. Chapter XXVI: Turn to a Mighty Stranger

Hello lovely readers!

You get an update today because today is Hope's birthday (no comment). Plus, a new episode of The Originals (directed by Joseph Morgan) airs tonight!

Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter! This story now has over 250 reviews, which is at least 240 more than I ever thought this story would get. I love and look forward to reading your thoughts, predictions, requests, constructive criticism, kind words, and lovely compliments every chapter, so thank you so much for reviewing! Thank you especially to those of you who review every chapter; I am endlessly grateful for your dedication!

A note on this chapter: there are some very convenient magical solutions for the problems the characters are trying to solve, which I know is annoying when they do it on the show, but I tried to connect each of these situations with an existing spell that was used on the shows, so it isn't like I just made them up out of nowhere to serve my purposes. Also, there's some three-year-olds doing magic adults can't (which I've received complaints about in the past) so I will just remind you that the twins' magic works differently than everyone else's, and it's not a matter of skill or training.

Plus, as requested, more Uncle Finn! (: (I consider making at least some readers actually like Finn an accomplishment)

This site keeps cutting off my chapter titles and it makes me sad ): I came up with a perfect title for the next chapter, but no, it's too long. So I'm sorry you don't always get to see my ideal chapter titles. The revised title for this chapter comes from a line from _Wuthering Heights_ (though I personally prefer _Jane Eyre_ , and Jane Austen over either Bronte, I liked the quote for this chapter).

Happy reading!

* * *

They couldn't start the council meeting until everyone was present, and Hayley was late.

The meeting had been scheduled to start at ten. The rest of the council had been present and seated by nine-fifty. It was now ten-fifteen.

Klaus and Elijah were talking, Marcel and Vincent were talking, Rebekah was scrolling through her phone, Caroline had turned her chair so that she could rest her legs in Klaus's lap, Davina was chatting with Josh, and Freya was watching the door.

"Has anyone called her?" Vincent asked.

Interactions between Vincent and the Mikaelsons were still somewhat tense. None of them would say that they blamed him for Caroline's kidnapping, but they did resent his actions that day, which had started the chain of events that allowed the kidnapping to occur.

"She didn't answer," Marcel told his friend.

None of the Mikaelsons had wanted to call Hayley, who was one of the few people on worse terms with them than Vincent at the moment. Even the calmer, more forgiving members of the family were content to forget that she existed.

At ten-thirty, Hayley waltzed through the door, Jackson on her heels.

"Sorry we're late, we overslept," Hayley apologized breezily.

"How unlike you, you're usually so responsible and considerate of other people's time," Rebekah exclaimed sarcastically.

"I should have known that none of you would be worried about me," Hayley sighed.

"You really should have," Rebekah retorted.

"Ladies, please," Marcel cut in, trying to stop the impending fight before it started.

"I mean, you would think after Caroline's kidnapping, you would take it seriously when someone else who's important to your family didn't show up when they were supposed to, but no one would have cared if I'd been kidnapped, would you? Caroline got a full search party and Klaus showing up at my door to tell me what a horrible mother I was for being cautious about exposing my five-year-old daughter to powerful magic she can't control, and I get one missed call from Marcel because no one else wants to talk to me!" Hayley complained.

From what Caroline knew of Klaus and Hayley's confrontation over Hope's magical education, the situation had rapidly turned antagonistic. Klaus had planned to merely inform Hayley of his intentions to begin teaching Hope how to use and control her magic, which Hayley had interpreted as a judgment on her parenting. Hayley had gotten defensive, telling Klaus that she had raised Hope on her own for years without him, and that he didn't have the right to start making decisions that affected Hope's life without consulting her. The way Klaus had described the conversation, Hayley had seemed just as angry over the idea of Hope learning to use her magic as she was over Klaus coming to the conclusion that Hope needed magical instruction by himself.

"We had other priorities, little wolf, which we will tell all of you about now, if you would stop your incessant whining so that we can," Klaus replied evenly.

"Wait, I have something to say first," Hayley announced.

Klaus rolled his eyes, but gestured for her to continue.

"I know that some of you don't exactly consider me trustworthy, so I wanted to make an effort to prove myself," Hayley declared. "I've asked Jackson to represent the werewolves with me. He's a leader of a wolf pack, just like I am; he is a calm and methodical decision maker, and he wasn't even alive when the council was first formed."

"Does anyone have any objections?" Marcel asked.

"This council is going to include half of New Orleans at this rate," Elijah shook his head.

Caroline stifled a laugh at Elijah's exasperation. She had to admit that he had a point. At a recent meeting, Marcel had decided to expand the executive board of their council from three members to four, and now Hayley was requesting another werewolf representative. Caroline was reminded of the old expression about chefs and spoiled soup.

"But do you have an objection to Jackson personally?" Vincent asked.

Elijah shook his head.

Was Caroline imagining things, or did Hayley look slightly disappointed? Caroline understood that even though Hayley was happy with Jackson and Elijah was happy with Katherine, they might have some lingering feelings for each other after their intense relationship. What she didn't want was council business being influenced by Hayley's petty desire to make Elijah jealous that she had moved on, that she was thriving in a relationship that had nothing to do with any of the Mikaelsons.

Caroline stopped that thought in its tracks, reminding herself that she was trying to give Hayley the benefit of the doubt. Unless she was presented with evidence to the contrary, Caroline had no reason not to believe that Hayley's motives were completely genuine.

"No one has any objections, because no one cares," Klaus interrupted. "So let's just vote on it and get on with the important business."

Caroline had to agree with Klaus. She felt guilty, because the werewolves were a supernatural community under the council's jurisdiction, just like vampires and witches, and therefore should receive equal treatment, but Hayley usually struggled to get the rest of the council engaged in the werewolves' complaints. Caroline liked Jackson, though she didn't know him very well, and thought that he complemented Hayley well, which she hoped would lead to a harmonious and productive environment in which the werewolves had two dedicated leaders standing up for their rights.

There was a murmur of agreement among the rest of the council. No, it wasn't really fair that everything involving the werewolves was treated with such apathy, but what happened in the bayou didn't really affect anyone outside of the bayou.

Jackson's position on the council was quickly approved, and he took a seat at the table next to Hayley.

"Elijah brings up a good point, though," Marcel added. "We can't keep changing the make up of the council whenever we feel like it. Can we all agree not to make any more changes unless something really isn't working out, or there's some sort of emergency?"

Everyone agreed.

"Now what was it that you had to tell us?" Marcel asked.

Klaus told Marcel and the others all about how they'd figured out that Esther and Genevieve had been the ones behind Caroline's kidnapping, how Caroline had figured out how they had been able to escape The Void, his meeting with Genevieve, and Bonnie's insistence that they seal off The Void, as well as her concerns with doing so.

"Are you certain that Caroline's theory about the connection between the dimensions is correct?" Marcel asked.

"Yes," Klaus affirmed. "Genevieve confirmed it. I trust Caroline's word; you should too."

"I just can't imagine why you took that meeting with Genevieve," Hayley snapped. "She's already tried to kill Hope, and she's admitted that she and Esther are back to try again. What reason could you possibly have for attending a tea party hosted by one of the people who wants to kill our daughter?"

"She threatened Caroline," Klaus stated angrily. "Not that I owe you an explanation."

Hayley looked at Klaus in disbelief.

"Since when are you scared of anyone's threats? What happened to the guy who told me that Hope didn't need my werewolf pack to protect her, that you would protect her all by yourself?"

"She threatened Caroline," Klaus repeated.

"Maybe you should send her away," Hayley suggested. Everyone looked over at her in disbelief. "Send her and her kids to the safe house. That way, she'll be safe, and you can focus on keeping Hope safe."

After everything she'd seen of Klaus and Hayley's relationship, Caroline didn't think that Hayley was trying to be antagonistic or get Caroline out of her way, but she was surprised that the hybrid was offering a suggestion that Klaus would clearly be opposed to. The rest of the council seemed to have similar surprised but not threatened reactions to Hayley's idea.

"Someone shut her up," Klaus ordered.

"Klaus!" Hayley exclaimed.

"Of course, because to you, everyone is just collateral damage in your quest to be the hero who saves Hope. Isn't it interesting that you consider Hope's safety and happiness to be of utmost importance, the highest priority, yet you yourself have never been required or even asked to make any sacrifices to ensure it? The rest of Hope's family spent years in coffins, or in a dungeon, while you got to play with her, and hang her drawings on the refrigerator, and buy her clothes and toys with my money. And now you're content to let Caroline die, or hide her away like she's something to be ashamed of, as if I wouldn't have been able to overpower or kill Genevieve at that meeting if she did something I didn't like. I am still the person who can protect Hope singlehandedly, Hayley, but unlike you, I don't consider everyone else cannon fodder, just waiting to be sacrificed to save Hope," Klaus shouted.

Hayley looked like Klaus had just punched her in the face, and Caroline felt just as surprised by Klaus's outburst. His complaint was only obliquely related to what Hayley had said, and he seemed disproportionately angry when Hayley clearly hadn't meant any harm.

"I never said that!" Hayley argued. "I made a suggestion that I thought might help. I thought that if you knew that Caroline was safe, you wouldn't have to fight on two fronts. You know that they're here for Hope, so they'll hunt her down, wherever she is, but they're only interested in Caroline because of her relationship with you. If she were to disappear, and they were to hear that she left because you two broke up, they wouldn't be interested in her anymore. They wouldn't be able to put you in a position where both Caroline and Hope were in danger and you couldn't save them both."

"I think she has a point," Caroline interjected.

Klaus and Hayley looked equally surprised.

"I mean, you already know that I wish you worried less about me and more about Hope, who's their actual target, and a child who can't defend herself even as well as I can," Caroline continued.

"No," Klaus proclaimed. "You are my queen. You are not a mistress to be hidden away in shame, or a damsel in distress who needs others to fight for her. Your place is at my side, where we can stand together, fight together, and show our enemies that we are not scared of them. End of discussion."

"You said Bonnie was worried about what might happen to the people she's brought back from The Void already if she seals it off to prevent Esther and Genevieve from reviving allies?" Marcel asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, Bonnie is concerned that the connection between this world and The Void is what is anchoring those who we have already revived," Elijah answered. "She says that she will need to find a way to figure out if that is true, and if it is, how to anchor them to this world without using The Void. She has endeavored to contact the spirits who helped her create the spell that allowed her to access The Void, but so far she has been unsuccessful."

"And I assume there's some reason why you can't just do a linking spell, or you would have done it already," Vincent offered.

"That's related to Bonnie's other concern," Elijah answered. "She let us know that if she seals off The Void now, if Esther or Genevieve manage to kill any of us later, she won't be able to bring us back. Even if the other members of our family defeat them, Bonnie still cannot reopen the connection to The Void for fear of allowing them to return again, trapping us in a vicious cycle."

"Naturally, we want to do a linking spell to anchor them to this world before we make any attempt to seal off The Void, even if we later discover that doing so was unnecessary," Elijah continued. "And if the spell is necessary, it's possible that Esther and Genevieve don't know that, and we will have very easily defeated our enemy."

"When are you planning to do the spell?" Marcel asked.

"Bonnie is ready to do a spell that will anchor everyone to our house," Caroline explained. "She's still trying to consult with the spirits in the hopes that there is a better solution."

"Has she done this sort of magic before?" Vincent asked.

"Yes, she was able to bring her boyfriend at the time back to life by anchoring him to this world before she put the Veil back up," Caroline answered. "And the linking spell is similar to one that she performed on Elena and her uncle, except this time she would link everyone to an inanimate object instead of another person."

"Then what do you need from us?" Marcel asked.

"We just need you to bring the people Bonnie brought back from The Void to the house when Bonnie is ready to do the spell, or else they might get sent back to The Void when Bonnie seals it off," Caroline said.

As Caroline spoke, her phone vibrated.

"It's from Bonnie," she announced. "She was able to contact the spirits. She's ready to do the spell now."

{ }

Half an hour later, they all met up at the Mikaelsons' house, in the room in which Bonnie had first done the spell to access The Void.

After Caroline had announced that Bonnie was ready to do the anchoring spell and close off The Void, the meeting had ended abruptly in favor of preparing for the magic about to take place. Vincent and Josh had rushed off to collect their loved ones; Freya and Davina had sped straight home to help Bonnie with the spell if she needed it; Hayley and Jackson followed after them quickly, as if they were in race and only the winner would be guaranteed to survive; Rebekah, Elijah, and Marcel lagged behind to discuss what Bonnie might have heard from the spirits; and Caroline and Klaus went to pick up the twins from Alaric's house.

Caroline was wary about having the twins present while Bonnie performed such powerful spells, but Alaric's class schedule meant that he couldn't watch them. The timing of the council meetings and Alaric's first class usually coordinated so that Caroline came to pick up the girls right before Alaric had to leave for his day at work.

Klaus and Caroline were the last ones to arrive back at the Mikaelsons' house. Everyone was already gathered in the small room, the number of bodies pressed together in such a small space adding to the tense atmosphere. Bonnie stood in the center of the room, holding court, while everyone else just tried to maintain as much personal space as they could. Katherine, Rebekah, Freya, and Davina had all squeezed onto the couch, with Elijah and Kol standing at either end of it and Finn on Elijah's other side. Marcel, Vincent, Eva, Josh and Aiden stood against the back wall, while Hayley and Jackson stood with Hope in the far corner. The impatient energy in the room made clear that everyone had been waiting for them to arrive.

"They're here, now tell us how this is going to work," Katherine implored eagerly.

"I've figured out a way to modify the spell I used to bring Jeremy back to life so that I can use it to keep you all from being sent back into The Void, if that's even how it works," Bonnie said.

"You mean the spirits didn't tell you if sealing off The Void would force all of us back there or not?" Davina asked.

"This is just a precaution," Bonnie answered. "Nothing should happen to you once I seal off The Void, but doing this spell will just be added insurance in case something unforeseen happens."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Freya asked.

"It's the spell to seal off The Void that will take the most magic, so I'll need help with that, but I should be able to handle this one by myself," Bonnie replied.

"Do we need to wait for the full moon?" Elijah asked.

"No, I can do the first spell now, by myself, and the other one after that, if I have help from any of the other witches here. Channeling the power of the moon just means that I don't have to use another witch for help, but it isn't a requirement for the spell," Bonnie responded.

"Let's get started then," Vincent said.

Bonnie directed everyone who had been revived to move to the center of the room, and everyone else to stay back against the walls so that they weren't in the way. Caroline and Klaus, each still carrying a twin, moved to take Katherine's and Davina's places on the couch. Rebekah smiled at Caroline and Josie when they sat down next to her, scooting down so that there would be room for Klaus and Lizzie to sit on Caroline's other side.

"This is going to be a little more complicated and a little more time-consuming than the spell I did to keep Jeremy on this side after I put the Veil back up," Bonnie explained. "With that spell, I just sort of had to maneuver the veil around him as I put it back up. With this spell, I have to physically hold you all here while I rebuild the wall between this world and The Void."

"That, and you're actually alive while you're doing the spell this time," Kol interrupted, smirking.

Caroline expected Bonnie to take offense at Kol's casual reference to her death, but to her surprise, the witch actually cracked a smile.

"In his typically insensitive way, Kol actually does make a good point," Bonnie said. "I don't really know for certain how much magic this will take, since I was dead when I did the previous spell. And I know that this will require a continuous flow of magic until I finish sealing off The Void."

"Then let me do it," Freya pleaded. "You have to be the one to do any spells involving The Void, but any of us should be able to do an anchoring spell. At least channel one of us so that you can conserve your magic for the second spell."

"Fine," Bonnie agreed. "There are more than enough witches here who can help out, right?"

Freya, Vincent, Eva, Davina, and the twins nodded.

"Now, I don't mean to be overly pessimistic, but do you have a backup plan in case this spell doesn't work?" Vincent asked.

Bonnie nodded.

"If this doesn't work, I'll do the same spell I did on Elena and her uncle," Bonnie explained.

"Who was actually her father, in case anyone here wanted to feel a little better about their own family's dysfunction," Caroline chimed in.

"Yes, well," Bonnie tried not to laugh at her friend's interruption. "The spell I did was essentially the magic equivalent of John taking a bullet for Elena. I tied their lives together, so that if Elena died, which she did, John would give his life force to her, dying in the process, but allowing Elena to continuing living."

"Ah, so that's how you outsmarted me," Klaus commented. "Rather ironic that you're using the same spell to help my family now."

"I like you, more than I ever thought I would, Klaus, but I'm not doing this to help your family," Bonnie retorted, the fierceness Caroline had always admired in her friend shining through. "I'm doing this to help my family. My family just happens to be part of your family."

Klaus grinned and nodded, conveying respect and genuine affection for the witch.

"There are enough of us here that I can use the same spell to link everyone who might be in danger to someone else, and as long as no one dies in the time it takes for me to seal off The Void and reverse all of the linking spells, we'll be fine," Bonnie continued to explain.

Bonnie looked around the room.

"Is something wrong?" Elijah asked.

"No, I'm just trying to decide how we should do this," Bonnie said. "Freya's right, I have to be the one to do the spell to seal off The Void, just like I had to be the one to open it. The anchoring spell needs to be, well, anchored in this plane, so the witches I would be shielding with it can't help. I'm going to need a lot of magical power to close off The Void, but I'm also going to need a lot of magical power to keep the anchoring spell in place while I do it, so I'm just trying to figure out the best division of our magic is all."

"I can do the shield spell," Vincent offered. "You two are more powerful than I am, but I can tap into the power of the ancestors to make up the difference. I can do that spell, and you two do the second spell."

"I don't need you to do the spell, I just need you to maintain it," Bonnie clarified.

"Whatever you need me to do," Vincent agreed.

Bonnie looked over at Caroline, who glanced at the Original vampires on either side of her, then at her daughters, then nodded at Bonnie.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "Now I've given you all of the information I have. Are we still sure we want to take the risk of sealing off The Void?"

"Yes," Kol insisted. "At the moment we only have two enemies. There are—" he did a quick head count. "Twenty, of us, including the two who aren't allowed to leave the house. We outnumber our enemy ten to one, and between us, we are more than powerful enough to take them down, while protecting the weaker and younger among us. Plus, this gives us the advantage and the moral victory of foiling their plans."

"I have to agree with Kol," Elijah added. "Even if Esther and Genevieve have been able to procure white oak, we are powerful enough to ensure that they do not come near enough to us to use it. This is a strategic risk that we must take. If we do not prevent Esther and Genevieve from reviving allies, they may soon outnumber us ten to one."

Kol looked around the room as if challenging anyone to disagree with them.

"The more people you're trying to fight, the more danger Hope is in," Hayley hesitantly spoke up. "I'm in favor of whatever plan will be most effective in keeping Hope safe."

"It just seems penny wise and pound foolish to me," Caroline disagreed. "Look, we can't know for certain if anyone of us will die before we manage to defeat Esther and Genevieve, and almost everyone here is family, and the few that aren't are at least friends and allies. I don't want to lose any of you permanently, which is why I want to keep that option open. I can't leave my children without a mother," Caroline continued, tears welling up in her eyes. "And I don't want any of the girls to lose any member of their family."

"We're going to be fine, Caroline," Klaus tried to reassure her.

"You're not going to leave the girls without a mother," Hayley responded in that brash, exasperated tone she often used, that always sounded like she thought the person she was speaking to was the least intelligent person on the planet. "You're the princess locked away in the ivory tower. If there's anyone here who's definitely not going to die, it's you."

"Who asked her opinion?" Katherine scoffed. "Caroline, you will be fine, because the most powerful creature on Earth is in love with you and will ensure that you will be fine. The rest of us can't say that, but we're willing to take the chance that all of us together are more powerful than Esther and Genevieve, whose mission is to kill an innocent child for the crime of being born. Which means that, in a turn of events that no one saw coming, for once, both Klaus and I are on the side with the moral high ground. We're trying to save a five-year-old's life, Caroline. We have to do the spell."

Everyone looked to Klaus to make the final decision.

"I agree with Elijah," Klaus said slowly. "And I agree with Katerina. And you know how that makes me crazy, but she is right in this case. They both are. We have to do whatever it takes to keep Hope safe. Cutting Esther off at the knees and foiling her plan before she can implement it gives us an advantage, and shows that we aren't afraid of her, or worried that she had acquired enough white oak to kill us. From a strategic perspective, two known enemies is easier to fight and defeat than an unknown number of enemies who can continually be revived."

"So we're doing this," Bonnie confirmed.

"Yes," Klaus agreed.

{ }

Bonnie asked everyone who needed to be included in the spell to stand in a line, facing her and standing as close as they could without touching.

She took Vincent's hand and started chanting. Once he learned the spell, Vincent started chanting along with her.

As they worked, the atmosphere in the room started to change. It was as if an invisible wall was separating Katherine, Davina, Finn, Jackson, Aiden, and Eva from everyone else. The magic that was anchoring them where the stood fell over them like a blanket, weighing them down and forming a barrier between them and the rest of the world.

Caroline and Klaus kept a tight grip on the twins to keep them from reaching out and ending up under the spell themselves.

"Can they hear us?" Josh asked.

Bonnie nodded.

The room was suddenly filled with noise. No one was shouting, since most of them possessed supernatural hearing abilities, but they were loud enough to make everyone's voices unclear.

They quickly learned that it was impossible to have a meaningful conversation with anyone under the anchoring spell, not because they couldn't hear or respond, but because everyone was talking at once.

Kol managed to ask Davina if she was okay, to which she nodded, before Hayley started interrogating Jackson as to what being under the spell was like, only to be interrupted by Elijah asking how Katherine was feeling.

Only moments later, Bonnie had had enough.

"Can everyone be quiet, please? We really need to concentrate," she snapped.

The room immediately went silent.

"Thank you," Bonnie said, then returned to the spell.

Once Bonnie was satisfied that the spell was completed, she stopped chanting and let go of Vincent's hand.

"Just shout if you need help, I'm not sure how long you'll have to keep this up," Bonnie told him.

Vincent just nodded in response without breaking his concentration.

"Whenever you're ready, Freya," Bonnie said.

Freya walked around Vincent to stand next to Bonnie.

"But how will you be able to help Vincent if both of you are working on this spell?" Marcel asked.

The Mikaelsons all avoided eye contact with Marcel. He still hadn't found out that it had been Josie who had helped to provide enough magical power to send Elijah into The Void the first time.

"We have our ways," Rebekah answered noncommittally. "We wouldn't have undertaken a spell of this magnitude without some contingency measures in place."

"No, that isn't going to work anymore," Marcel responded, taking a step forward. "Most of us have been working on the council together for weeks now. You helped bring our loved ones back from the dead. We helped you look for Caroline when she was kidnapped. We are going to help you fight Esther and Genevieve. We are in this together. So either you trust us or you don't, because this isn't going to work if we aren't honest with each other."

Caroline felt empathy for Marcel, having been in his place before. In Mystic Falls, the Salvatores had never trusted her enough or had enough faith in her abilities to let her make any substantive contributions to their plans. She was always sent to distract Klaus, or to lure Katherine, or pushed out of the way, not because Stefan and Damon wanted to keep her safe, but because they assumed she would get in their way or ruin their plans.

"You're right," Caroline said. Marcel turned to her, surprised. "We do trust you. So, you should know that you were right, when you were here, and you questioned how Bonnie and Freya did the spell by themselves the first time, without the help of the moon. They didn't do the spell themselves. Josie helped."

"What…? Who…? How…?"

"Me," Josie cut in. "I'm a witch."

Marcel looked at Josie—less than three feet tall, with chubby cheeks, wearing a lavender tee-shirt printed with a watercolor butterfly—clearly wondering how this little girl possessed enough magic—and enough control over it—to help with such a complex spell.

"Yeah, if you're going to be part of the team, you're going to need to learn twin etiquette," Caroline said. Klaus smiled, recognizing her tone as the one she used when she was ramping up to a lecture. "These two girls are individuals who happened to have been born at the same time. They are not JosieandLizzie, one word, they are Josie and Lizzie, two separate human beings. You will learn which twin is which, and you will not get them confused, because they are not interchangeable. Eventually you will learn the differences in their personalities, but until then, just know that Lizzie has blonde hair and Josie has brown hair. You might also find it useful to familiarize yourself with the vast collection of nicknames and terms of endearment that these two—well, all three girls, actually—have acquired so that you know who everyone is talking to. For example, you could probably figure out on your own that anything associated with either wolves or the color red is referring to Hope, but you may not know that the more generic the term of endearment sounds, the more likely it is it's for Josie. And for the record, this applies to all of you, not just Marcel."

Marcel and Josh looked taken aback by the intensity of Caroline's speech.

"She's a very protective mother," Rebekah told them.

"Now that we've gotten the 'who' out of the way, you might remember that the twins are siphoners. That's 'how.' And I assume the 'what' was rhetorical?" Caroline continued.

"So you're saying that if Vincent needs help maintaining the spell… You'll send one of the twins over there to help him out?" Marcel asked.

"And an Original, because they'll need someone to siphon the power from, but yes, that's what we'll do," Caroline answered.

Bonnie cleared her throat. She was standing with her arms crossed, a slightly amused smile on her face.

"Whenever everyone is ready," she said.

"Sorry, Bon," Caroline apologized.

"I'm not sure how long this is going to take, because rebuilding a wall takes more time than knocking it down, but we also don't have to send anyone into The Void to do this, so they won't have to search for people and drag them back, which was the time-consuming part," Bonnie said.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, we have to do this, no matter what," Freya reassured her.

Bonnie took Freya's hand and they began the spell.

{ }

With two powerful spells in progress at once, it was only a matter of time before something went awry.

After almost four hours, Bonnie and Freya showed no signs of being any closer to the conclusion of their spell. After using so much magic alone for such a long period of time, Vincent was starting to show some signs of exhaustion, though he was stubborn enough to try to conceal them.

"Vincent, are you okay?" Marcel called out.

Vincent just nodded.

None of them believed him. Their vampire vision was able to detect the tremors going through him, the slight pallor of his skin. They could hear the slightly accelerated speed of his breathing, just a little too shallow to be considered healthy.

Caroline looked down at the twins, ready to ask them to help Vincent, when someone else beat her to it.

Rebekah picked Lizzie up from Klaus's lap, telling the little girl, "Come on, little angel, your sister volunteered last time, so it's our turn to help."

They walked over to Vincent, who shook his head insistently. Rebekah just sighed and rolled her eyes in response, then set Lizzie down and took her hand.

Lizzie offered Vincent her other hand, and Vincent reluctantly, tentatively took it.

Almost immediately he looked stronger and more controlled with the influx of Rebekah's power that he was channeling through Lizzie.

"Care," Rebekah called out to Caroline. "If Bonnie and Freya need help—"

"Then we'll ask Josie to help, I've got it," Caroline answered.

"No, I mean," Rebekah shook her head. "Those two are going to be useless," she pointed to Kol and Elijah, whose eyes were fixed on Davina and Katherine, so deep in concentration that they hadn't even heard their sister call them useless. "And Nik will be watching both girls like a hawk, looking for any hint of tiredness or weakness."

That was when Caroline saw Rebekah's point. She hadn't been trying to insult Caroline's intelligence by questioning who would help Bonnie and Freya if they needed another witch. She had been pointing out that with Finn anchored by Vincent's spell, Kol and Elijah focused on Davina and Katherine, Rebekah letting Lizzie channel her to help Vincent, and Klaus supervising…

"There are no Originals left for Josie to channel," Caroline concluded. "That's okay. She can channel me. Sure, Originals have more power to give than any other supernatural creature, but they can channel anyone. And since the only other option is to ask Hope to help, which Hayley will never allow, and this magic is surely beyond the capabilities of a five-year-old who only just started learning about magic, it will have to do."

"Actually, Caroline, there is another option," Rebekah said. "It's a long story, but Marcel is actually an 'enhanced' vampire. He's at least as powerful as we are."

Marcel looked up at the sound of his name, glancing at Caroline briefly before his gaze settled on Rebekah.

"I understand being nervous about having your children around people they're unfamiliar with, but Marcel isn't going to hurt them. He's family: Nik raised him as a son, and you know this family; we may have our moments, but once you're a part of this family, you're in it forever. Marcel's right, Caroline, we either trust him or we don't, and we have to trust him," Rebekah pleaded.

"If you need me to do this, I can do it," Marcel said.

Marcel cautiously approached Josie and Caroline, never letting his eyes wander far from Rebekah. But was his stare suspicious or admiring? Caroline couldn't tell.

Marcel crouched down to Josie's height.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

Josie held out her hand. Without hesitation, Marcel took her small hand in his.

"Yes," Josie answered. When Marcel looked confused at her quick answer, she continued. "You trust me. And you helped look for my mommy."

Josie hopped off of Caroline's lap, and, still holding Marcel's hand, walked across the room, wordlessly slipping her hand into Bonnie's.

It wasn't long after that that Bonnie's and Freya's eyes flashed open.

"It's finished," Bonnie announced. "The Void is now completely inaccessible, to everyone."

Everyone relaxed now that they knew that the spell had been a success.

"Vincent, whenever you're ready to stop, go ahead," Bonnie instructed.

Vincent finished his current recitation of the spell, then repeated the spell one more time before stopping. He released his grip on Lizzie, who pulled Rebekah with her over to Caroline and sat back down.

The invisible shield lifted, and everyone who had been under reoriented themselves in the room, looking around at everyone present.

"Did it work?" Katherine asked.

"We did it," Bonnie confirmed.

"And the spell we were under worked, we're fine, we can now resume life as normal?" Katherine asked.

"You're all fine, so feel free," Bonnie allowed.

Katherine threw herself into Elijah's arms, while Davina flung herself at Kol, and Eva did the same to Vincent. Hayley ran over to Jackson with Hope, pulling him into a hug with her daughter in between them. Josh and Aiden shared a more subdued greeting.

And Finn stood quietly by himself.

"Uncle Finn!" Josie cheered, running over to him. He turned and caught her before she ran into his legs.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Finn greeted her, a little stiffly, but he was trying—really trying—to be affectionate. Caroline felt a surge of pride that it was her little girl who had brought this out in him. Caroline had never known Finn to be affectionate, or even to seek out contact with anyone, but he looked almost happy when Josie called his name.

Josie had always been more shy and more emotionally reserved than Lizzie, who took after Caroline with her social, friendly nature and her willingness to love everyone she made friends with. Though she truly loved all of the Mikaelsons, Lizzie's favorites were Klaus and Rebekah, the ones who showed her the most love and attention in return. Josie, however, had sought out the one person in the family who seemed entirely indifferent to them, the one who avoided but desperately needed contact with others.

And maybe it was just because Kol had been spending more time with Davina lately, or maybe it was because they had ended up together when they were looking for Caroline, but maybe it was because Josie had found something of a kindred spirit in this thousand-year-old vampire with a strict sense of morality, who was constantly ignored in favor of his louder, stronger, more powerful siblings. Just as Finn was relegated to 'the quiet, boring one' amongst the hybrid Klaus, the witch Freya, the honorable knight Elijah, the rambunctious jester Kol, and the beautiful and mercurial Rebekah; Josie's more serious, soft-spoken personality was often overshadowed by Hope, the most powerful witch to ever live and the only ever witch-werewolf hybrid, and Lizzie, the Mikaelsons' little angel who could get the most powerful creature on the planet to give her anything she wanted with just a smile.

Finn picked Josie up in a motion that looked practiced, like he'd done it before, looking up to see Marcel trailing after her.

Finn carried Josie over to Caroline with Marcel still following. Once Josie sat down, he knelt down in front of her and asked how she was feeling after helping with the spell.

"I'm fine," Josie chirped.

Neither of the twins had helped with the spells for very long, and had used only a little magic, leaving them no worse for wear, but it was nice of Marcel to make sure that Josie was okay.

"Mommy?" Josie asked. "Is Marcel an uncle, too?"

It took Caroline a moment to realize what Josie meant, that she wasn't asking if Marcel had any siblings who had children.

She wanted to know if she should address Marcel as Uncle, as she did the other male members of the Mikaelson family.

It was Klaus who answered, saving Caroline from having to scramble to remember if she'd ever even heard Hope address Marcel, and what she'd called him.

"No, I wouldn't say so," Klaus told Josie. "You might have heard your Aunt Rebekah say that I raised Marcel. I adopted him, which makes him my son, which makes him Hope's brother. And since the three of you girls consider yourselves sisters, it stands to reason that Marcel is actually closer to being your brother than your uncle."

It was a testament to how deeply entrenched the girls were in the Mikaelson family drama and dysfunction that Josie looked from Klaus to Marcel, and then simply said, "Okay."

* * *

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	27. Chapter XXVII: Scenes from My Nightmares

Hello lovely readers!

I'm experimenting with updating on a weekend rather than during the week to see if that's a more convenient time for you to read a new chapter!

Also, I spent some time this week working on a new cover for this story, and it took me a while but I like it and I think it represents the story more accurately than the last one. Please let me know what you think of it!

And just a quick reminder that I'm ignoring season five of The Originals, not just in terms of plot, but also in terms of characterization that doesn't fit with the characterization that I've written. Namely, the trope that the show has recycled, in which Lizzie and Josie are portrayed as shallow, immature mean girls to make Hope look so mature and perfect and better than every other teenage girl on the show. ( _TVD_ did the same thing with Caroline and Elena during the first season. Of course, that backfired, because people ended up loving Caroline.) Although, the more I watch season five, and the more we hear about the upcoming spinoff, the more excited I am to possibly write the girls as teenagers! (:

There is a guest appearance in this chapter from a character who hasn't been featured in the story until now, and I'm quite nervous for you to see the portrayal of the character in this chapter, so please let me know what you think! Also, I apologize for the mean and crude comments this character makes, they do not in any way reflect the way I feel about the characters that he insults.

As promised less than five chapters ago, this is the chapter in which Caroline tells Klaus about Damon's abuse. As such, there are detailed descriptions of that abuse in the second half of this chapter. If those descriptions will make you uncomfortable in any way, please skip over the entire last section. I'm very sorry to spend yet more time on this if it does make you uncomfortable, but I feel that it's necessary for Caroline to describe to Klaus exactly what happened to her.

Happy reading!

* * *

They were able to enjoy four days of peace before their calm was shattered.

When he called, Caroline, Bonnie, and Freya were playing a game of Clue Junior with the girls; Kol was out with Davina; Elijah was out with Katherine; Klaus was in his art studio; Rebekah was out shopping; and Finn was in his room.

Bonnie's ringtone interrupted the game. She gave the girls an apologetic smile before checking the caller ID.

Her smile faded immediately.

"What's wrong, who is it?" Caroline asked.

"It's Damon," Bonnie answered.

Bonnie sat on Caroline's bed, gesturing for Caroline and Freya to join her. When Bonnie answered the call, she held the phone between her and Freya, leaning in close so the other witch could hear. Caroline leaned in on Bonnie's other side, not needing to in order to hear, of course, but enjoying the nostalgia of the middle school sleepover behavior.

"I hope you enjoyed your vacation because it's time to come home," was the first thing Damon said.

"What? Why?" Bonnie asked.

"The Original mummy is in town, and she promised to break Elena's curse if I could convince you to come back home to help her," Damon answered. "Naturally, I thought the offer was too good to be true, but I figure, with a price this cheap, it's worth a shot. So let me know what time your flight's scheduled to arrive and I'll pick you up at the airport."

"Seriously?" Bonnie interjected.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll send Matt to pick you up at the airport," Damon amended.

"Sorry, I'm still stuck on the 'Esther is in Mystic Falls' portion of your story," Bonnie said, knowing that the idea would send Klaus running into the room to hear all that he could of what Damon knew of Esther's plans.

Sure enough, it was only seconds before Klaus sped into the room. Rebekah joined him a minute later, having heard the congregation in Caroline's room when she entered the house.

"Yeah, I don't know how she's alive again, but I don't really care if she can help Elena," Damon said.

"This is Esther, Damon. What makes you think that she's trustworthy?" Bonnie asked.

"This is Elena, Bonnie. Your best friend Elena. Remember her? I would think that you would be willing to do anything to help her, especially since your other best friend skipped town to bang Klaus before my brother's body was even cold?"

Caroline flinched at Damon's harsh accusation. She knew that his loyalty was to Stefan, and that from his perspective, her running off to New Orleans must look bad, but she was surprised at the venom in his voice when he talked about her, and how he assumed that Bonnie had cut ties with her over her decision to come to New Orleans.

"Don't talk about her like that," Bonnie ordered. "And you shouldn't talk about inappropriate relationships, either, because you don't have a leg to stand on."

Caroline knew that Bonnie was referring to the 'relationship' Damon had had with her—the one where she'd been compelled for the majority of it. But of course Damon didn't understand the reference.

"That's completely different," Damon insisted. "Yes, Elena and I may have gotten together very soon after she and Stefan broke up, but he wasn't dead. She didn't leave him at the altar because she just realized that she wasn't getting the Barbie dream wedding that she'd been planning since she was a little girl because she never grew up and she couldn't accept that the world doesn't revolve around her and what she wants every second of every day. If she hadn't gotten selfish at the last second, none of this would have happened. Stefan would still be alive."

"Or Caroline would have been widowed only hours after her wedding, because Stefan still would have chosen to sacrifice himself to save you and Elena," Bonnie countered. "I don't blame her for finally realizing that she deserves better than to constantly come in third place after you and Elena and standing up for herself."

"The point is," Damon snapped. "Blondie took off to the Big Easy to keep the Big Bad Wolf's bed warm, Alaric followed her because she took the wonder twins with her, and Stefan's dead. All Elena has right now is me and Matt, and that's not good enough. She needs you here, Bonnie."

"I'm not getting involved with Esther, Damon. We can't trust her. She has to be up to something. She wouldn't just offer to help you break the spell on Elena for no reason," Bonnie said.

"Then she's up to something! Who cares? She probably just wants to try to kill her children again, which I have no problem with, since they're all evil monsters who deserve to die! I'm human, Elena's human, you're human; so it doesn't matter if the Originals and their sirelines get wiped out. What is your problem, Bonnie?! What could possibly be more important than getting Elena back?!"

"Um, not dying?" Bonnie offered rhetorically. "I know that you're willing to do anything to break Elena's curse, because you're in love with her, and I respect that. I love her, too. But I'm also thinking about this logically, and it seems to me, that if we leave well enough alone, the worst case scenario is that Elena wakes up when I die. If we take Esther up on her offer to help, the worst case scenario is that Esther hurts or kills us and Elena as part of an evil plan. Do you at least see why I'm wary of her proposition?"

"Or, our best case scenario changes from Elena waking up when you die, to Elena wakes up in a few days," Damon argued.

"I don't trust Esther enough to believe that, and I think if you do, you are going to end up hurt and disappointed," Bonnie replied. "I'm needed where I am, and more than that, I'm happy where I am. And I can't come running back to Mystic Falls every time you come up with a harebrained scheme to save Elena. Elena wanted us to live, until we got to see her again. She wouldn't want any of us hovering over her, spending every waking minute trying to find a way to break the curse."

"Wow," Damon chuckled darkly. "Elena deserves way better than friends like you."

Then he hung up.

{ }

Caroline and Bonnie looked at each other in shock.

Freya was the one who finally gave voice to the thought running through all of their minds.

"So Esther is in Mystic Falls."

"So it seems," Bonnie replied.

"Yeah, I mean, Damon's a jerkface, but he wouldn't lie about an opportunity to help Elena," Caroline chimed in.

"A 'jerkface?' That's what you're going with?" Rebekah smirked.

"In front of my children, yes," Caroline retorted, glancing over and Lizzie, Josie, and Hope, who had continued playing the game on their own.

"Like I told Damon, I'm sure she's up to something," Bonnie said. "She wouldn't offer to help Elena out of the goodness of her heart. There's something in it for her, I just don't know what it is."

"You're having a party in here and you didn't invite me?" Katherine complained as she pushed open Caroline's door, Elijah following after her. Katherine sat down next to Caroline on her bed, while Elijah stood next to Klaus.

"I apologize, but I couldn't help but overhear. Who exactly is offering to help Elena?" Elijah asked.

"Esther is in Mystic Falls, brother," Klaus stated.

"You're sure of this?" Elijah asked.

"Damon called me, telling me that Esther was in town and had offered to break Elena's curse if he could convince me to come help. I know he's telling the truth. He doesn't mess around when it comes to Elena," Bonnie answered.

Elijah started pacing, a sign that the situation was very serious. It was unlike Elijah to outwardly exhibit any signs of stress.

"Tell us everything you know about the curse placed on Elena. Perhaps there's an explanation to be found there," Elijah requested.

"Kai Parker, a siphoner turned heretic, cursed Elena to stay in a magical sleep until I die," Bonnie said. "Then Damon killed him, and when he returned from Hell, the twins and I banished him to a prison world, so he can't undo the spell, even if he were willing to."

"Then, while the way Damon spoke to you and about Caroline was contemptible, I understand why he is convinced that you need to be present for the spell to be broken," Elijah responded.

"So Esther shows up in Mystic Falls, and tells Damon that she can help break Elena's curse, but she needs Bonnie. Damon sees nothing suspicious about this request, since Bonnie is already part of the spell. He calls Bonnie, demanding that she come home, and is shocked to learn that not everyone is willing to drop everything in their lives on the off-chance that they can help Elena somehow, and that Bonnie is suspicious about the conditions of Esther's help. Because here's a question that Damon didn't consider: how would Esther know about Bonnie's involvement in the spell?" Katherine questioned.

"She wouldn't," Caroline answered. "We didn't tell anyone to try to keep Elena and Bonnie safe. I don't know if Esther was alive or dead when Kai cast the spell, but either way, she wouldn't know that Elena's life had been tied to Bonnie's."

"So, as usual, we know that Esther is up to something devious, but we have no way of knowing what," Klaus said. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Freya asked, partly nervous and partly curious.

Klaus turned to face the girls.

"Would you please go get your Uncle Finn for me, poppet?" Klaus asked Josie.

Josie quickly got to her feet and rushed out the door.

"You can't possibly think that Finn is conspiring with Esther, do you?" Elijah asked.

"He has before," Klaus argued. "He hides in his room all day, doing who knows what. Finn has always hated what we are—had a death wish and fancied himself a martyr. But no, Elijah, I don't think that Finn is working with Esther, but he has before and he would know better than any of us what she might be thinking."

Josie pulled Finn by the hand into Caroline's room.

"Finn, we have a situation that you might be able to assist with," Klaus said.

"What is it?" Finn asked.

"Esther is up to something in Mystic Falls, and we don't know what it is," Klaus informed him. "We thought you might."

Without Josie, the girls' game had fallen apart, so Lizzie and Hope stood and made their way over to the group that was huddled next to Caroline's bed.

"No, I would have no way of knowing that," Finn answered. "The only thing in Mystic Falls that I can think of that would be of any interest to Esther would be the doppelganger, if she's even still there."

"What would Esther want with Elena?" Bonnie wondered.

"She used her blood in a spell to link all of her children together," Finn explained. "Her plan was to kill me, which would lead all of our deaths, thus eliminating all vampires from the world."

"She might intend to repeat this spell, which would explain why she would be interested in breaking Elena's curse," Elijah mused.

"And she has not asked you to assist her in anyway, or given you any information on what she is planning?" Klaus interrogated.

"No, Niklaus," Finn sighed.

"Niklaus," Lizzie imitated with a giggle.

"You think my name is funny, Elizabeth?" Klaus asked her, making a show of scooping her up in his arms.

"I am not working with Esther. I don't even know if she knows I'm alive," Finn continued. "And if she were to ask me to assist her, I would refuse."

"Why would you do that?" Klaus asked. "You were always the one most loyal to her."

"What choice did I have?" Finn retorted sharply. "She was the only member of this family who didn't look at me like I was a waste of space. Mikael was hunting us all, and you left me in a coffin for nine hundred years."

Josie gasped, still standing next to Finn and holding his hand.

"Sorry, dear," Finn said, lowering his voice.

"You all made very clear to me that there was no place for me among my siblings. My brother Niklaus, the Original Hybrid, had crowned himself king; with my brother Elijah the valiant knight fighting by his side. Kol was always so rambunctious, and Rebekah so tempestuous; both hedonists, happy to revel in what we were. It was clear that none of you felt any guilt or shame in what we are, even as unnatural as it is. So, I clung to the one person who seemed to share my views. I have since come to accept that even though we are unnatural creatures, we are still a family. We can never return to our simple human life, but this life, together, is preferable to death, alone."

Freya tearfully stood and hugged Finn, and a moment later, so did Rebekah.

"I'm so sorry we made you feel that way," Rebekah said.

"I hope for your sake that you are telling the truth, because anyone who would even consider doing any harm to my little girls is not welcome in my home or in my family," Klaus threatened.

"Klaus, he just poured his heart out to you and you're threatening him?" Caroline scolded.

"It is the children who helped me come to this realization," Finn said, not looking perturbed by Klaus's threat. "We did not ask to become vampires any more than Josie and Lizzie asked to be siphoners, or Hope asked to be born with the power she possesses. They feel no guilt over what they are. We may not have been born vampires, but our parents made us who we are just as they have inherited their magic from their parents. They have shown me that it is futile to feel guilt for things I cannot control. All I can do is make an effort to do the right thing with the fate that I have been given."

"Right, well, we still need to figure out why Esther wants to break Elena's curse and why she wants Bonnie there to help her," Klaus said.

"We know why Bonnie's presence is required," Elijah pointed out.

"But not why Esther wants her there," Katherine countered. "She's the Original Witch. She doesn't need anyone to help her with magic. And she doesn't need to wake Elena up to take her blood. No, she wants Bonnie in Mystic Falls for some reason."

"It's possible that Esther just wants Bonnie out of New Orleans," Freya suggested. "She's counting on Bonnie's loyalty and love for her friend Elena to get her to Mystic Falls, but I don't know what would come next in her plan."

"But why Bonnie?" Rebekah asked. "Esther doesn't have anything against her. She's a witch, she isn't a Mikaelson, she isn't romantically involved with a Mikaelson."

"Maybe it's something having to do with The Void?" Caroline guessed.

"I'm not bringing anyone back from the dead for her," Bonnie promised. "I'm going to call Damon back and tell him that I'm not coming, since he didn't seem to get the message the first time."

"Well, I sure want to be here for that," Caroline laughed.

"Anyone else?" Bonnie asked.

Klaus and Elijah nodded.

"If he reveals anything else that Esther might have told him about her plans, we should all know about it," Elijah justified.

"Finn, would you take the girls downstairs, please?" Klaus asked, setting Lizzie down.

The three girls picked up the pieces of their game and ran out of the room, leaving a caught-off-guard Finn to chase after them.

"Let's just get dealing with Damon over with," Caroline suggested.

Bonnie scrolled through her phone's contact list for Damon's number. As soon as the call connected, she put the phone on speaker so that all of them could easily hear.

"Tell me you're calling with flight information," Damon said.

"No, I'm calling to tell you that I'm not participating in a potential dangerous and almost certainly fruitless scheme," Bonnie replied.

"Okay, where are you and what are you doing that you could possibly think is more important than getting Elena back?" Damon demanded.

"I'm in New Orleans," Bonnie informed him. "And we're fighting a war of our own against Esther here, so I can't leave. I tried to tell you earlier that I wasn't coming, but you didn't really give me much of a chance to speak in between calling me a terrible friend and insisting that Esther is a trustworthy ally."

"I can't believe this," Damon declared. "I can't believe you're actually prioritizing the Originals over your best friend. But you're stubborn, so I know that there's nothing I can say that will change your mind. I hope that one day, when they've chewed you up and spit you out, that you're proud of yourself for choosing them and letting Elena suffer because of it. Elena deserves better than that, Bonnie. Elena deserves a long, happy life, spent with the people she loves, and you're standing in the way of that. I hope you're happy."

"He hung up," Bonnie announced, showing them her phone screen.

"Good riddance," Rebekah cheered. "I can't believe I was ever desperate enough to sleep with that."

"Let's not talk about that," Bonnie requested. She looked uncomfortably towards Caroline.

"Are you all right, Caroline?" Klaus asked, apparently noticing Bonnie's look. "He was viciously cruel to you."

Katherine looked at Caroline, her eyes silently asking if Klaus knew about Damon's abuse. Caroline very, very, subtly shook her head.

"That's practically affectionate behavior compared to how horrible Damon has treated Caroline, Bonnie, that girlfriend he had whose name I can't remember right now, even Elena sometimes, and, well, everyone he's ever met, in the past," Katherine said. "I mean, he was obsessed with me for 150 years, and he still trapped me in a tomb."

Caroline understood, and even appreciated, that Katherine was encouraging her to tell Klaus about how Damon had abused her. She remembered that when she'd intended to tell him, before she'd gotten kidnapped, that she'd told Katherine and Bonnie something about needing to tell him before she lost her nerve. Of course, since then, that had been exactly what happened. She'd been kidnapped, then they had to figure out who had kidnapped her, then they had to plan how to stop them; and there hadn't been a free minute since. And since Caroline wasn't looking forward to the conversation, she hadn't spoken up.

Now Katherine was giving her the tough love she needed to encourage her to finally share her secret.

"She has a point," Caroline offered timidly, knowing that now that she'd brought it up, there was no going back.

Klaus's concerned eyes met Caroline's nervous ones.

"What did he do to you, Caroline?"

{ }

Upon hearing the seriousness of Klaus's voice, everyone in the room suddenly had an urgent need to be somewhere else.

Katherine remembered that she needed to 'run an errand' and that it was of utmost importance that Elijah and Rebekah accompany her. Bonnie and Freya decided to check on the girls, but not before lighting some sage so that Klaus and Caroline could have some privacy.

As soon as the door shut behind Bonnie, Klaus turned to face Caroline, taking a step closer to her.

"Whatever he did, I will make him pay for it, I promise," Klaus said.

He stood in front of her, taking her hands in each of his.

Klaus looked so sincere and concerned that Caroline felt guilty for not telling him about this earlier, and for having to tell him at all.

"I know," Caroline acknowledged. "That's what I'm worried about."

Caroline knew perfectly well that she told Klaus what Damon had done to her, his days would be numbered, and as much as she might hope that Damon would make it out alive for Elena's sake, she couldn't be certain that anything she could say would stop Klaus from killing Damon.

"My beautiful, compassionate queen," Klaus smiled. "But anyone who hurt you needs to be punished, and anyone who might even consider hurting you to get to me needs to know what I will do to anyone who so much as lays a hand on you."

"But Elena loves him," Caroline cried. "And Elena is my friend, I don't want to hurt her, and you hurting Damon because he hurt me, would hurt her."

"Then he shouldn't have hurt you," Klaus stated coldly. "I don't care about Elena, Caroline. I don't care if she ends up hurt, or if she stays asleep for the rest of time. I care about you, and I care that there are people who think that they can hurt you and get away with it."

"And this isn't about revenge against him at all?" Caroline questioned. "Or about cementing your status as the alpha male?"

"No, my love, this is only about getting justice for you," Klaus answered. "But I can only properly avenge you if I know what he did."

Caroline looked down at her knees. Klaus might think he wanted to know, but Caroline knew that he would be enraged once he found out what Damon did. And what would he think of her, once he knew the full extent of just how pathetic she had been as a human?

Klaus reached out and gently lifted her chin so that she was forced to look at him.

"There is nothing that you could tell me he did to you or forced you to do that could make me love you any less, do you understand?" Klaus asked. "Nothing that he did is your fault, and nothing that he did could change the way I feel or think about you. There's no need to be scared to tell me."

"Okay," Caroline took a deep breath.

"I don't know what you're picturing happened, but I'm sure that you've already figured out that Damon hurt me," Caroline started.

Klaus nodded.

"It was when I was human," Caroline prefaced.

"That makes it worse," Klaus replied. "Because you weren't strong enough to defend yourself against him. You were so vulnerable and fragile compared to him."

"Vulnerable is the perfect way to describe me at that time," Caroline said. "I was so desperate for attention, for someone to care about me, that I didn't think twice about letting him in when he seemed interested in me."

"That's no excuse for hurting you," Klaus insisted. "Everything he did to you, whatever it is, is entirely his fault, and I will make him take responsibility for his despicable behavior."

For the first time since she started her confession, Caroline glanced up at Klaus. He wore an expression of righteous fury, and he hadn't even heard what Damon had done to her yet. He was angry that someone hurt her, in some yet-unknown fashion. He would only get more irate once he had the details.

Still, he was clutching her hands, and when he noticed her eyes on him, he offered a small, supportive smile and allowed the anger to fade from his eyes. Caroline wanted to smile almost as much as she wanted to cry. Here he was, her avenging angel, her champion, trying to hide his anger with her abuser so that she would feel more comfortable describing the ordeal she'd been through.

"He abused me, in every way that I can think of," Caroline blurted out quickly. "Physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually."

Klaus looked like he had been slapped. He pulled back from Caroline slightly, closing his eyes for a moment before refocusing his stare on her face.

"Please don't look at me like that," Caroline pleaded.

"Like what?" Klaus asked.

"Like I'm broken, or ruined," Caroline answered, looking down at her lap. "I would hate for you to think of me as less than you did a minute ago."

"Look at me," Klaus ordered gently. Caroline obeyed. "I promised you that nothing you could say would make me love you less, or change the way I thought about you. And I stand by that. I want to hang Damon from his ceiling fan by his intestines, but I do not think that you are broken or ruined. That was not why I was looking at you so searchingly."

"Then why?" Caroline asked.

"I was trying to see what he saw," Klaus said. Caroline must have looked insulted, because Klaus quickly elaborated. "I was trying to see how he, or anyone, could look at you and not see the most beautiful girl in the world, someone who should be loved and cherished and protected and given everything her heart desires. But I can't, because that's all I see when I look at you. I'm so sorry this happened to you, my love. I'm so sorry."

Klaus sat down on the bed and pulled Caroline onto his lap, closing his arms around her tightly and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"You don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to, or you don't feel comfortable," Klaus offered.

Caroline shook her head.

"No, I have to finish this," she insisted. "I was at the Grill with Bonnie, complaining about how no guy that I wanted to be with every wanted me, no matter how hard I tried, and I was so jealous of Elena, because everyone always wanted her, even though she never tried at all."

"After Bonnie left, I could see him, sitting at a nearby table. He smiled and waved at me flirtatiously, and I was just so surprised and happy that he seemed interested in me that I smiled back. Then he came to sit with me, and we talked for a while, then he left. The next time I saw him, I invited him back to my house."

Caroline was glad that she didn't have to look into Klaus's eyes while she recited the traumatizing and humiliating events of that night, and the weeks of torment that followed.

"When I tried to leave after I woke up the next morning, he grabbed me, and he threatened me, and then his vampire features came out, and I started screaming because I didn't even know vampires existed back then, and I was terrified that I'd gotten involved with a monster without even knowing. I tried to get away from him but I couldn't, and I think he seemed to like that, that I was weaker than he was and I couldn't escape. That was when he drank my blood for the first time," Caroline continued.

"He would bite me and drink my blood, then compel me to forget it and order me to cover up the bite marks. I didn't even know what compulsion was at the time, and I wasn't on vervain. I just kept waking up with these holes in my memory where I didn't know where I'd been or what I'd done. I would wear scarves, all the time, even though it was September, to hide the bite marks on my neck."

"And no one noticed?" Klaus asked, aghast.

"It was a long time before anyone said anything," Caroline said carefully. "Looking back, I feel like if I had a friend who suddenly started wearing scarves every day, when they'd never worn scarves as an accessory before, I would ask them about it, but no one asked me. At that time, I didn't have as close a relationship with my friends, or with my mom, that I did when you first came to Mystic Falls. I knew that they thought I was annoying and neurotic and shallow, but they were all that I had. I treated my mom horribly, and she ignored me as much as she could, drowning herself in work. I was the perfect victim, because no one cared enough to look past my flimsy excuses."

"That's their fault, not yours," Klaus said. "Someone should have noticed changes in your behavior, in your habits. How can these people call themselves your friends when they aren't capable or inclined to look out for you?"

"He forced me to lie to everyone I knew about anything he didn't want them knowing about. I was compelled so much of the time, and when I wasn't, I was terrified of what he would do to me. He just seemed so angry with me all the time. I couldn't win. Even when I did exactly what he asked me to do, he would get mad. There was one time, he told me what to wear for a town event, but Elena had been able to see some of the bite marks through my shrug and confronted me about it, and Damon got so angry with me, even though he'd been the one to tell me to wear that outfit. He made very clear to me that he would kill me the second I was no longer useful to him, and he even tried, but Stefan had put vervain in my drink without me knowing, which stopped him from draining me."

Klaus stroked Caroline's hair gently. He was taking great care to touch her as little as possible, and when he did, it was her hair, or her hands.

Areas Damon wouldn't have bitten her.

"He was mean, and I think that hurt almost more than when he physically hurt me," Caroline continued. "He found every insecurity I had and exploited it. He was always telling me how worthless I was to him, and he was always insulting me, calling me stupid, and shallow, and useless. He compelled me to do his bidding; everything from throwing a party so that he could steal an old artifact to releasing him from the cell in the Salvatore's basement when Stefan locked him up after he'd tried to kill me. And if I failed, or didn't do something perfectly right, he would yell at me and threaten to kill me."

Klaus pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"You are so strong," he said. "You are so beautiful. You are a wonderful mother, and a great friend, and one of the wisest people I've ever known."

Caroline squeezed Klaus's hands in her own.

"I think this is going to be the hardest part for you to hear," Caroline warned. "He compelled me to have sex with him. The first time, I invited him in, but then he bit me and I got scared, but he just kept going. Every time after that, I was compelled. That really made it clear that I wasn't just his compelled errand girl or blood bag, I was a toy for him to play with, however he wanted."

"I'm so sorry, my love," Klaus whispered into her hair. "I would give anything to erase this from your past, to go back in time and protect you from it. I hate to even ask this of you, but I have a few questions, if you feel comfortable answering."

"Of course," Caroline replied. "You've been perfect, the least I can do is answer your questions."

"I just want to understand," Klaus said. "And I don't understand how you, a member of a founding family, daughter of the sheriff and members of the council, could not know about vampires. I would have thought that since your parents were so staunchly anti-vampire, they would have at least put vervain in your breakfast every morning to protect you, even if they didn't think you would believe them if they told you about vampires."

"I never thought of that," Caroline answered. "I don't know why they didn't tell me anything, or give me vervain. Elena gave me a bracelet with vervain in it, so my parents could have done something like that, but they didn't. But it isn't their fault, and I don't blame them for what happened to me."

"Of course not, sweetheart," Klaus said. "What happened after you completed your transition and you remembered everything you had previously been compelled to forget?"

"I shoved him down the hallway," Caroline answered. "When Katherine killed me, she told me to send a message to the Salvatores, so I told Damon what she'd said. But other than that, I didn't get revenge or anything. Damon was so surprised that I was a vampire. He was convinced that I wouldn't be able to handle it. He tried to kill me, but Stefan stopped him."

"Which leads me to my last question," Klaus said. "You said that this abuse went on for quite some time. Then Damon continued to be a part of your social circle for years afterwards. So, who knew what he did to you, and why did they not try to help you, or at least not force you to spend hours every week in close proximity to the person who abused you?"

"Even after the physical and sexual abuse ended after Stefan intervened at the Founder's Party, he still compelled and threatened me for a while after that. Stefan knew, almost immediately, because as the only other vampire in our group at the time, he recognized that I was under compulsion even when none of the rest of us did. Elena found out at the party, and Bonnie didn't find out until later."

"The reason why no one tried to help me is the same reason they did anything," Caroline gave a rueful half-smile. "Elena. I learned that Damon was only targeting me to try to get to her, the one he was really interested in, and Stefan didn't want to put a target on her back by interfering. Better me getting hurt than Elena, as always."

"And yet, your friends portrayed themselves as the good guys, when they were willing to turn a blind eye to all sorts of atrocities in the name of protecting Elena," Klaus shook his head, disgusted.

"And everyone who knew what happened seemed to forget about it immediately," Caroline continued. "It was clear that if I had a problem being friends with Damon, I would have to find new friends, because they weren't willing to choose me over him. They wouldn't force him out of the group because he was Stefan's brother, and Stefan and Elena decided that they needed him to help protect Elena from Katherine. And I loved Bonnie, Elena, Matt, even Stefan, at that point, too much to abandon them. I mean, you were there when I tried to tell Elena that I was uncomfortable with the idea of her and Damon together, and she acted like I was just an awful friend who didn't want her to be happy. He never apologized, or showed any regret or remorse for what he did to me, but somehow I was a terrible person for remembering how he hurt me and wanting to prevent the same thing from happening to a friend I loved."

"He never apologized or made any attempts at making amends, and all of your mutual friends just allowed that?" Klaus asked. "I promise you, my love, he will spend every day for the rest of his life begging for your forgiveness."

Klaus gently set Caroline down on the bed and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Caroline asked.

"Mystic Falls."

"Please don't kill him," Caroline pleaded.

Klaus looked surprised.

"And why do you want me not to kill him?" Klaus asked. "He hurt you. He deserves to suffer."

"There are other ways to make him suffer that aren't killing him!" Caroline retorted.

"Well, I would love to hear your suggestions of appropriate methods of torture, my beautiful, bloodthirsty queen," Klaus grinned.

"No, this is your game," Caroline answered. "This is honestly enough for me: to know that you are willing to kill someone who hurt me, when everyone else in my life who knew wouldn't even insist that he apologize to me. And if it's really important to you to hurt him for revenge, then I won't stop you. But killing him would hurt other people, people who it would hurt me if they were hurt."

Klaus seemed to consider Caroline's conditions.

"And you can't kill him because you owe him."

"What exactly do I owe the likes of Damon Salvatore?" Klaus demanded.

"Me," Caroline answered simply. "If Damon hadn't helped me to escape, even though he was only doing it because he thought it might save Elena, you would have killed me as part of your sacrifice to unlock your werewolf side. Yes, he hurt me, and I'll never forgive him for that. But he also saved my life, and did everything he could to help my mom when she was sick. Killing him would hurt Elena, and that would hurt me. He's human now, he'll die in a few decades anyway, maybe even before Elena wakes up. Killing him won't undo what he did to me."

"But it will surely make me feel better to know that he's been punished for it," Klaus replied.

"But this isn't about what will make you feel better about me being abused, it's about what will make me feel better about being abused," Caroline shot back. "And what will make me feel better is not having to field frantic phone calls from Elena while she's crying over Damon being dead and blaming me for it, because you killing Damon to get revenge for what he did to me will surely be my fault in her eyes."

Klaus sighed.

"You could sell me sand in the desert, sweetheart," he said. "Very well. I will not kill Damon. I will simply have to be more creative in my torture."

Klaus walked out of the room and strode down the stairs with a purposeful stride.

Kol and Davina were just entering the courtyard as Klaus, and Caroline on his heels, walked past.

"Kol, Rebekah," Klaus called out. "We need to take a little trip, to punish an enemy for his crimes against our family!"

Rebekah sped into the courtyard.

"When are we leaving? I'll go pack now," she said.

"As soon as possible," Klaus told them.

"And brother?"

"Yes, Nik?"

"Bring your bat."

* * *

Well…?

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	28. Chapter XXVIII: Cursed Spite

Hi!

Thank you very much for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm not certain, but I think I may have forgotten to thank reviewers last chapter, so, I'm sorry about that, and thank you for all of your reviews on chapters twenty-six and twenty-seven (and chapters one through twenty-five as well, I really appreciate every single review).

Many of you mentioned your excitement for Kol and his bat in your reviews—you all are too funny (:

Also, some of your theories about who dies (in two chapters now, I think?) are wild. I'm not telling you anything more than that.

As far as your questions about the timeline of this story go, since I already told you that I've finished outlining the rest of the story and I don't want the end to feel abrupt, I will tell you now that, unless I need to cut an existing chapter in half because it's too long or I need to add an extra chapter for some reason, this story will have 37 chapters and an epilogue. And since some reviewers have asked, the baby plot is first introduced in chapter 34.

A couple of notes about this chapter:

A reminder for anyone who isn't sure what _TVD_ canon I kept in this story—Damon is human.

Chapters that take place in Mystic Falls are labelled ' _Mystic Falls, Virginia_ ' for your convenience.

Time isn't really linear in this chapter, but I hope it all makes sense by the time you reach the end. As always, if there's anything you're confused about, feel free to ask for clarification in a review or message.

There is revenge torture in this chapter, including physical violence and compulsion. Klaus is not taking it easy on Damon because he's human. I tried to keep the descriptions of violence to a minimum, but they are still present. Caroline doesn't want Klaus to kill Damon for the sake of her friend (and we all know that Caroline is a better friend to her friends than they are to her) and because as much as her morals are getting less stringent the more time she spends with the Mikaelsons, I don't think she would ever be completely comfortable with Klaus committing cold-blooded murder in her name, and as Klaus pointed out last chapter, there are fates worse than death…

The title for this chapter comes from a line from _Hamlet_.

Disclaimer: Save for my DVD and iTunes copies, I don't own _Legally Blonde_ (which I had to include because it's one of my favorite movies, and I have multiple friends who refer to me as Elle Woods because of my characteristic love of pink, dedication to academic success, and organizational skills), nor do I own _The Iliad_. Well, that disclaimer certainly sets the tone for this chapter /:

Happy reading!

* * *

They had been gone for three days.

Three days of waiting, and worrying, and being the sole parent in the house with three girls under the age of ten. That last one was enough to make Caroline want to run away from home herself.

Aunt Bonnie, Aunt Freya, Aunt Katherine, Uncle Elijah, Uncle Finn, and Aunt Davina tried to help, but at the end of the day, they weren't parents. They could help the girls with magic, and read to them, and play with them, but they weren't responsible for disciplining them and making sure they went to bed on time.

The girls missed Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol; and they weren't even being any less cooperative than usual, it was just more difficult to deal with the everyday challenges of caring for a five-year-old and two three-year-olds alone.

The girls didn't understand where they had gone or why, and Caroline didn't feel comfortable telling them, knowing they were too young to understand and they would have questions she couldn't answer.

The first night after they left, it took Caroline almost two hours to get the girls in bed. They wanted Klaus to tell them a story, as he often did, and grew agitated when Caroline tried to explain to them that Klaus wasn't home, and that he hadn't answered his phone when she'd called.

Then Lizzie decided she didn't like her pajamas and wanted to change. After she did, the three girls were no longer matching, so Josie and Hope insisted on changing their pajamas as well.

She'd tucked all of the girls and their stuffed animals into the large bed in Klaus's room, which he rarely used now that he and Caroline shared a room.

After singing them a lullaby, Caroline turned out the lights and shut the door before retreating to her own room.

She had just changed into her own pajamas and sat down on the bed when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Caroline invited.

Freya pushed open the door, wearing pajamas and holding a carton of ice cream and two spoons in one hand and a bottle of wine and two glasses in the other.

"You are my best friend in the whole world," Caroline said.

Freya laughed.

"I thought you could use this, after dealing with my nieces, who have all suddenly decided to become uncontrollable with Klaus gone," she replied.

She held up the ice cream and then the wine, silently asking Caroline to choose which one she wanted.

"I wouldn't say they're uncontrollable," Caroline insisted.

Caroline pointed to the wine.

"Lizzie just cried for twenty minutes over running out of cinnamon-flavored toothpaste and having to use the regular mint kind. Also, what three-year-old likes cinnamon-flavored toothpaste?" Freya wondered, pouring the wine into two glasses and handing one to Caroline.

"My three-year-old," Caroline answered. "She hates mint, and it all costs the same, so I figured that it didn't hurt to indulge her flavor preferences."

"Okay," Freya shook her head.

"And that would have happened even if Klaus was here," Caroline pointed out. "I mean, it isn't like they're on their best behavior for Klaus and give me grief. Klaus is the one who lets them get away with anything, and I have to play bad cop. I imagine Hayley does the same with Hope."

"True," Freya conceded. "You probably didn't see that coming when you came here, right? I don't think anyone ever imagined that Klaus Mikaelson would be such a doting father to not only his own daughter, but to two stepdaughters as well, but he really fell head over heels in love with all three of them; all four of you."

No one had ever referred to the twins as Klaus's stepchildren before, and since Klaus and Caroline weren't married, they technically weren't, but that was the most simple, concise explanation of their relationship.

"Actually, I think I was less surprised than most people were," Caroline replied.

"Well, you know him better than most people," Freya said.

"I like to think so," Caroline added with a chuckle.

"Caroline?" Freya said, then seemed to think the better of it and took a sip of her wine.

"Yes?" Caroline responded.

"Do you know where they are? Or what they're doing?" Freya asked.

"I don't know exactly what they're doing, but I have an idea," Caroline answered. "And I know where they are."

"Where?"

"Mystic Falls, Virginia," Caroline said. "My hometown."

"Why?"

With a shiver, Caroline burst into tears and told Freya everything. All the ways that Damon had abused her, how she'd remembered all of it after she became a vampire, how her friends had known and still forced her to spend time with him, how Klaus had reacted and promised vengeance on her behalf when she'd told him.

"I'm so sorry," Freya whispered. "I don't know what else to say."

"What is there to say?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

Freya wrapped her arms around Caroline, and rested her head on Caroline's shoulder.

"I love you, little sister," Freya said softly.

"I love you, too, Freya."

As they each wiped the tears from their eyes, Freya laughed nervously.

"So, what can I do to try to make you feel better?" Freya asked. "More wine? Ice cream? More snacks? Makeovers? Movie? Do you want to go out? Do you want to be left alone? I know you're closest to Klaus and Rebekah, but they're not here, so you're stuck with me."

"Freya, you're my sister, same as Rebekah. And Bonnie, and Katherine," Caroline insisted. "And to answer your question, let's do popcorn with a movie, and ice cream after?"

"You choose a movie, I'll be right back," Freya ran downstairs to get the popcorn while Caroline perused her DVD collection.

Freya returned a few minutes later with a giant bowl of popcorn and several packages of different types of candy.

"I come bearing snacks!" Freya announced. "What movie are we watching?"

Caroline held up her favorite movie, _Legally Blonde_.

"Of course you would love this movie," Freya rolled her eyes.

Freya sat down on the bed next to Caroline, placing the bowl of popcorn and the other snacks in between them.

Caroline bounced off the bed and put the movie in the DVD player, then rushed back and took a handful of popcorn from the bowl while Freya reached for a chocolate bar.

Caroline and Freya spent the entire length of the movie giggling, offering their own commentary, and eating snacks.

When the movie ended, Freya collapsed on the bed.

"Tummy ache," she moaned. "No room for ice cream."

"Next time," Caroline proposed.

She switched off the lamp on her nightstand.

"Caroline?"

"Yeah?"

"I really admire how strong you are. I don't know if I could have survived what you went through."

Caroline froze. She'd never thought of herself as strong for surviving Damon's abuse; she'd thought of herself as lucky that Damon got tired of her and moved on before he managed to kill her.

"Thank you."

Caroline smiled when she received a quiet snore in response.

{ }

 _Mystic Falls, Virginia_

Klaus hadn't told his younger siblings anything about why they were going to Mystic Falls. They had interrogated him for the entire length of their flight to Virginia, but all he told them was that they needed to avenge a member of their family. They didn't even know that they were going to Mystic Falls until the plane landed at Richmond's airport.

"We're in Virginia, which means we must be going to Mystic Falls. And since Caroline and Bonnie are in New Orleans, Elena is sleeping, and Stefan is dead, we must be here to torture Damon," Rebekah figured out.

"Well done, sister," Klaus replied as they disembarked.

"It was really bad, wasn't it?" she asked. "What Caroline told you that Damon did to her, it was really bad?"

Klaus wasn't sure what, if anything, Rebekah knew about what Caroline had suffered, but he wanted Caroline to be the one to decide what to tell Rebekah and the others, and when.

"It was really bad," Klaus confirmed.

"Then do we have a plan for what we're going to do to the hideous cockroach?" Rebekah asked.

"Caroline has requested that we not kill him, as she believes that the doppelganger will blame her for Damon's death at my hands," Klaus answered, disdain dripping from his tone.

"Since when do we owe the doppelganger any favors?" Kol asked.

A black SUV was waiting for them on the tarmac. A man in a uniform handed Klaus the keys to the vehicle, then nodded formally and walked away.

Rebekah insisted on sitting in the passenger's seat, while Kol dove into the backseat as soon as Klaus unlocked the car.

"We don't owe the doppelganger any favors, but I don't want Caroline any more upset than she already is," Klaus answered.

"So all of the pain without the mercy of death at the end. Works for me," Kol said.

"He's surely on vervain, so we'll need to bleed it out of him," Rebekah started planning.

"Then compulsion can be our grand finale," Klaus grinned.

"You're planning something particularly dastardly for this one, aren't you?" Rebekah asked.

"He hurt her, Rebekah," Klaus snapped. "Nothing I do can undo that. But I can make him suffer, at least as much as he made her suffer. Do you really know nothing about what he did to her?"

Klaus was surprised that Caroline hadn't confided in Rebekah, as close as they were. And even before they were friends, Rebekah had spent more time with Caroline's friends than he had, since she'd attended high school for a time and joined forces with the group to search for the cure.

"I really don't," Rebekah admitted. "I know that neither of them are the other's biggest fan, and that Damon was frequently rude and dismissive towards Caroline, but I don't know anything about him actually hurting her. Do you know who else knows besides you?"

"I know that Stefan knew, and so did Elena, but both of them are out of the picture. Bonnie knew before I did, but not until after it happened," Klaus answered.

"Leaving Damon as the sole recipient of your ire?" Kol assumed.

"Trust me, he deserves it. He deserves the most horrifically painful death I can imagine, following weeks of the most horrifically painful torture I can imagine. The things he did to her… he treated her like she was a toy, who existed just for his enjoyment, or a slave who was required to fulfill his every request no matter what it was," Klaus seethed.

"Did he…?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus nodded silently.

"I am going to rip off his—" Rebekah cut herself off with an angry shriek.

"Easy, Bekah," Kol responded.

"No, you're right, I don't want to get close enough to touch him," Rebekah amended primly.

"Did you just say I was right? If only I'd gotten this rare moment of intelligence and clarity from you on tape. Did you hear her say that I was right, Nik?" Kol asked.

"Will both of you stop acting like children?" Klaus scolded. "This isn't about any of us, it's about Caroline. As long as we make Damon pay for what he did to her, I don't really care what you do to make that happen."

The younger siblings sensed that this particular excursion was not the time to test their brother's tolerance, and so the rest of the car ride was spent in silence.

When they finally arrived at the Salvatore boarding house, Klaus haphazardly parked the car on the long driveway, barely waiting long enough to turn the engine off before he was out of his seat and storming up to the front door, Rebekah and Kol hot on his heels.

Bypassing the doorbell, Klaus instead opted to pound on the front door with his fist until Damon opened the door.

"Klaus, Barbie Klaus, Klaus's deranged brother," Damon greeted in his usual arrogantly dismissive manner. "What brings you back to Mystic Falls, and how quickly can I convince you to leave?"

"That's going to be difficult for you, as we're here for vengeance, mate. Against you," Klaus informed him.

"For what?" Damon asked, annoyed.

"Did you really think that I would never find out what you did to her? That she would never tell me?" Klaus asked, leaning forward and getting in Damon's face.

"I don't know who or what you're talking about," Damon denied.

Klaus heard a rhythmic tapping sound as Kol gently swung his baseball bat against the doorframe. Klaus wished that his brother was swinging that bat against Damon's skull, and with much more force.

"You and I both know that there's only one person we both know that I would willingly stomach your presence for," Klaus said. "I know what you did to her. I know that you hurt her, in ways that make me sick to think about, just because you thought you could get away with it. Well, I'm here to tell you, Damon Salvatore, that you didn't get away with it. No one hurts Caroline and gets away with it. And I don't care that you're human now. You will pay."

"This is about…? That was ages ago, Blondie's long over it, plus, between you and me, the girl practically wore a sign around her neck that said 'will do anything for attention' while she was human. I didn't make her do anything she wasn't desperate enough to do if I'd asked her to," Damon almost seemed to boast. How could he have misunderstood Klaus's pronouncement so egregiously?

Klaus used his vampire speed to rush into the house and pin Damon to a wall as he did so. Rebekah sauntered in after him, but Kol remained outside. After a second, Klaus remembered that Kol had never been in the Salvatore's house before, and needed an invitation inside.

"Invite my brother inside," Klaus ordered, tightening his grip on Damon's neck.

"You can come in," Damon gasped.

Rebekah sped out of the room and returned with a chair from the kitchen table in one hand and a set of sharp, expensive knives in the other.

"I thought these might come in handy," Rebekah explained.

"I'm sure we can find a use for them," Klaus acquiesced.

"Now you know the drill, Damon," Klaus said, taking a bite from Damon's wrist. "We have to bleed the vervain out of your system before we get to the fun part."

Rebekah left again and returned seconds later with rope. Together, Klaus and Rebekah tied Damon to the chair. With his average-at-best human strength, he wouldn't be able to get free on his own.

Picking up the largest of the knives, Klaus made deep gashes near Damon's major arteries.

"How does it feel to be a victim of a creature exponentially stronger and more powerful than you are? By the time we're done here, I am going to make sure you feel all of the pain that you inflicted on Caroline, a hundredfold. You mark my words: I am going to make you suffer, Damon Salvatore."

{ }

 _Mystic Falls, Virginia_

After Klaus came storming out of Caroline's room, shouting at Rebekah and Kol that they had to go punish someone for hurting a member of their family, it wasn't hard for Katherine and Bonnie to figure out where they were going and why.

And since they knew the full story, they decided that they weren't going to let the Mikaelsons be the only ones to give Damon a taste of his own medicine.

The morning after Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol left, they managed to pack some clothes and slip out of the house with their suitcases while everyone else was still in the dining room eating breakfast.

It took less than an hour after they left the house for Elijah to call Katherine.

"Katerina, where have you gone? Your suitcase is missing," Elijah asked.

"Right now, I am at the airport," Katherine answered.

"And what is your destination?" Elijah asked impatiently.

"That's going to have to secret for now, we can't have anyone sending out a search party," Katherine said.

"Did you take Bonnie with you?" Elijah asked.

"She's here, too," Katherine replied.

Elijah sighed.

"Well, I know better than to try to stop you when you have your heart set on something. Just be careful, please."

"I will," Katherine promised. "I'll be home soon. I love you."

"I love you."

Katherine hung up and turned to face Bonnie.

"I guess I thought we would have a little longer before we got caught," Katherine commented.

"Do you think he knows where we're going?" Bonnie wondered.

"It doesn't really matter," Katherine shrugged. "You might think of Elijah as uptight and particular, but he isn't controlling, at least not with me. He trusts me, and he knows how much I value my independence, so as long as I come home before too long, he won't pry."

"You two have a very strange relationship," Bonnie remarked.

"Thank you," Katherine smiled.

A voice over a loudspeaker announced that their flight was now boarding.

"We're lucky that there was a flight leaving so soon," Bonnie said.

"And that I could compel our way through security," Katherine replied.

"That too."

They handed over their tickets and found their seats. Katherine claimed the window seat, insisting that since she was the one who compelled the tickets, she should get her first choice of seats. Bonnie agreed, not wanting to argue, and hoped that no one had purchased a ticket for the aisle seat next to her.

"So, do we have a plan for what we should do once we get to Mystic Falls?" Bonnie asked.

"I want to make sure I get to punch Damon in the jaw at least once, but other than that, nothing specific," Katherine shrugged. "And Klaus didn't even bring a witch with him, so hopefully your magic will come in handy during the torture process. Not sure what I bring to the team that Klaus doesn't already have, though."

Bonnie looked at Katherine, trying to remember all of the plans in which she'd offered her help before.

Then the perfect plan occurred to her.

"Kat, do you remember what Klaus said about psychological torture, in that video Rebekah took?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah…" Katherine answered.

"I have a plan, and I know what you bring to the team."

As Bonnie explained her plan, Katherine's eyes grew wider and wider. When she was finished, Katherine grinned.

"That is a delightfully devious plan," she said. "Not very Bonnie Bennett-y."

"It's for Caroline," Bonnie reminded her. "And is it really any worse than anything Klaus would come up with?"

"No," Katherine conceded. "But he clearly didn't think of it or he would have brought me with him."

"Then it's a good thing for him that I thought of it," Bonnie replied.

The two girls spent the rest of the flight fine-tuning and elaborating on their plan until they had the whole operation scheduled down to the minute.

Once the plane landed, they were silent as they moved through the airport. Katherine compelled a rental car for them while Bonnie guarded their luggage.

"What do you think are the odds of this plan working?" Bonnie asked once they were on the highway.

"I would say we have a pretty good chance," Katherine replied. "It's always disoriented him when I've done similar things before. He won't expect it coming from you. The only struggle will be convincing Klaus that you're on his side and not Damon's, but since he knows that you know, and he was there when you called, I think he'll figure out what we're doing pretty quickly. I wouldn't worry about it too much, Bonnie."

"Okay," Bonnie agreed.

They lapsed into silence for the rest of the drive to Mystic Falls.

"That'll be Klaus's car," Katherine commented as they parked behind the black SUV in the Salvatores' driveway.

"Who knows what Klaus will have done to him in the hours that he's been here," Bonnie wondered.

"Bonnie, are you sure you want to do this?" Katherine asked. "This plan that you've come up with, it's pretty cruel. It isn't like you to be deliberately cruel."

"Not for long, though," Bonnie reminded her. "And what Damon did to Caroline was deliberately cruel. And so is whatever Klaus is planning to do to him. For all we know, our plan will be a nice respite from whatever Klaus is doing."

"I suppose that's possible," Katherine agreed. "And Klaus is almost certainly bleeding all of the vervain out of Damon's system in the most painful ways he can think of, so that he can later compel Damon to do things that will hurt him more than whatever physical pain Klaus is inflicting on him."

"Like what?" Bonnie asked. "And how do you know?"

"Experience," Katherine answered. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Bonnie replied.

"Then let's do this," Katherine declared.

They got out of the car and walked quietly up to the front door, not wanting the vampires to hear them approach and accidentally give away their plan.

Bonnie shot Katherine a questioning look, making sure that the vampire was ready to fulfill her part of the plan. Katherine responded with an indignant eye roll, as if she was insulted that Bonnie could doubt her.

"I've got this," Katherine mouthed silently, and Bonnie nodded.

Bonnie tried the door handle, finding that it had been left unlocked.

{ }

The girls were awake before seven in the morning.

Caroline, Bonnie, Katherine, and Elijah sat at the dining room table with them, watching as Hope levitated their pancakes.

"Girls, please eat your food, don't play with it," Caroline instructed.

Hope reluctantly let the pancakes fall back to their plates, only to start the spell again a few minutes later.

"Hope," Caroline sighed with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry," Hope responded.

"Just eat your breakfast, please," Caroline requested.

"Girls, listen to your—" Elijah broke off, shaking his head. "You shouldn't need to be told to eat your breakfast rather than make it fly."

Caroline managed to stifle her laugh, but Katherine didn't even seem to try.

"Sorry, that just sounds so outrageous," she laughed.

By the time the girls stopped playing with their food and started eating it, Katherine and Bonnie had finished eating. They exchanged a knowing look across the table, then both stood up and left the room.

"Do you know what that's all about?" Caroline asked Elijah.

"Katherine and I have found that our relationship works best when we each can retain some of our independence. This appears to be an occasion in which Katherine is asserting her independence by not telling me what she is planning with Bonnie. However, I do not believe it is malicious in any way. I would not be surprised to learn later that their alleged conspiracy is simply that they've finished our supply of your favorite flavor of ice cream and they must get more before you notice."

"You two have a very strange relationship," Caroline remarked.

"Thank you," Elijah smiled.

"Mommy, we're finished," Josie announced.

"Then let's go play outside in the courtyard," Caroline suggested with a smile. "So that Uncle Elijah doesn't lose his patience and dagger the lot of you," she added under her breath.

Elijah chuckled.

"I will be in my study, away from the girls, and the daggers," he joked pointedly.

"See you later," Caroline said, following Hope and the twins outside.

The girls elected to play a simple game of tag, which Caroline was glad they had chosen. With any luck, they would burn off some excess energy and sleep soundly that night.

Hope was 'it,' and she immediately starting chasing the twins around the courtyard.

After a few minutes, Hope tagged Josie, who tagged Lizzie, who tagged Hope.

Though playing tag with only three people seemed boring to Caroline, the girls seemed entertained.

Hope had nearly caught up to Lizzie when she tripped and scraped her knee.

Caroline ran over to her in an instant, taking care to look away so that Hope wouldn't see her reaction to the sight of her blood. Seeing her fangs and the veins spreading under her eyes wouldn't exactly keep Hope calm, even though Caroline had more than enough control to restrain herself from actually drinking Hope's blood.

Elijah was busy working, Finn was in his room, Freya, Davina, and Bonnie—if she was home—didn't have supernatural hearing abilities…

"Katherine!" Caroline called out. "Please be home."

No one answered.

"Kat, where are you? I need a little help here!" Caroline tried again.

It was Elijah who appeared in the courtyard a moment later.

"Katherine is not home," he said. "She and Bonnie have not yet returned from wherever they went after breakfast this morning. Is there anything that I can assist you with?"

"Can you please supervise the twins for a few minutes while I administer first aid to Hope's sports injury?" Caroline asked. Seeing the concerned look on Elijah's face, she added, "She's fine. She just scraped her knee."

Elijah nodded in agreement.

Caroline picked Hope up and brought her into the closest bathroom.

Once she'd cleaned the wound, Caroline finally looked at Hope, confident that her vampire urges were under control.

Hope's face was stoic, even as she fought back tears. Her blue eyes were watery, but her mouth was determinedly set in a thin line.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked.

Hope nodded stubbornly.

"Because it's okay to admit if you're in pain, or you're upset that you got hurt," Caroline told her.

"I have to be strong," Hope insisted.

Hayley had trained her daughter well. If only she'd taught her to do something that was less destructive and counter-productive.

"Not for me, you don't," Caroline said. "I know your mom taught you to always be strong, and that showing emotion made you weak, but you don't have to hide from me. I don't think you're weak for having feelings, and even if I did, there's no need for you to be scared of looking weak in front of me. I'm the twins' mom, and your dad's girlfriend, and at the very least, your friend. You don't have to act strong all the time, least of all in front of me, okay?"

Hope nodded.

"Thanks, Caroline."

"You're welcome, my little mermaid," Caroline replied.

With their game of tag brought to an end, when Hope rejoined the twins, Caroline set them up with coloring books at the dining room table.

Between their coloring, the board game they played all afternoon, and the movie they watched after dinner, the rest of the day went much more calmly.

Katherine and Bonnie returned that evening, giving no indication of where they had been or what they had done, but they both carried an air of satisfaction, so Caroline could only hope that their errand had gone well. They both joined the girls in watching their movie as if they hadn't been gone the entire day without explanation.

And as Caroline had predicted, all three girls fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

{ }

 _Mystic Falls, Virginia_

Klaus was slicing open Damon's wrists so that the vervain in his system would bleed out as fast as possible when he heard the front door open.

The sound of heels clicking on the hardwood floor immediately told him that their unforeseen visitor was a woman.

A sudden gust of wind blew the door shut behind her.

Klaus glanced at Rebekah and Kol to see if they knew who had arrived, but they looked just as surprised as he felt.

As she descended the steps, Klaus turned to see Bonnie Bennett of all people standing in the Salvatores' living room.

"Bonnie!" Damon exclaimed. "Help me, please!"

"Isn't that what you asked me to do?" Bonnie asked. "You wanted me to come wake up Elena for you, and that's what I'm here to do."

"But you said you weren't coming," Damon replied. "I told Esther you weren't coming so she left. I have to call her and tell her that you changed your mind! I knew you would realize that you were wrong before."

Bonnie took another step forward.

"There's nothing that Esther knows about this spell that I don't. I'll get started while you try to convince your tormentors to let you use your phone," Bonnie said.

Bonnie disappeared into another room, presumably the room where she knew Elena was kept.

Once she was gone, the Mikaelsons resumed their torture. Rebekah was setting up a makeshift IV with a blood bag, hoping to make up for Damon's blood loss with blood that they knew didn't have vervain in it.

"Aren't you going to try to stop Bonnie?" Damon taunted. "I just have to withstand whatever it is you do to me, and then I get Elena back, and you'll go home to New Orleans, having accomplished nothing."

"I'm not too worried about Bonnie switching sides on us, mate," Klaus replied. "And I wouldn't sound so cocky about the ease with which you think you'll withstand what we are going to do to you."

Damon had been tied to that chair for almost eighteen hours. Klaus was determined to drag out Damon's punishment for as long as he could, so he hadn't started right away, wanting to build Damon's anxiety and fear of what Klaus would do to him.

Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol had spent several hours ransacking the house, stealing anything they thought might be useful or valuable and destroying everything else, while Damon was restrained and unable to stop them.

Klaus was certain that it had broken Damon's heart to watch them drink all of his bourbon, starting with the most expensive stuff, right in front of him.

Then they'd started the process of bleeding the vervain out of his system. To add to Damon's paranoia, they'd left after cutting small gashes into Damon's veins, stopping by their own mansion in town to ensure the grounds were being kept up. Rebekah even found a favorite dress hanging in her closet, left behind in the haste with which she left Mystic Falls.

When they'd returned in the morning, they found Damon unconscious in his chair. They'd managed to revive him with a bucket of cold water. He'd fainted from blood loss, but sometime later, his blood had clotted, sealing the rest of his blood—and the vervain—inside his veins.

Bonnie's appearance had interrupted Klaus's second attempt to flush out what was left of the vervain in Damon's bloodstream.

Klaus pushed the knife he was holding into Damon's side, causing him to double over in pain, a bright red stain quickly growing across his shirt.

Kol stepped forward and bashed in both of Damon's knees with his baseball bat.

Rebekah jammed the needle of the IV into the crook of Damon's arm.

By mid-afternoon, the vervain was out of Damon's system. Klaus had made sure by compelling Damon to remain silent at all times—which he did, even when Kol hit him with his baseball bat again.

But as Klaus had told his siblings the day before, he wanted his compulsion to be the grand finale of his revenge scheme.

Less than an hour later, Bonnie returned.

"It took me most of the day, but I think I was able to undo the spell," she announced.

Damon struggled to speak, but was unable to fight off Klaus's compulsion.

"How?" Kol asked.

"I managed to severe the link between Elena and me," Bonnie explained. "She should wake up any minute now."

Klaus had no clue what Bonnie was getting at or why she had changed her mind about helping Damon, but there was something in the glint in her eye and her posture that told him to trust her.

Kol asked Bonnie a few more questions about how she'd managed to break the curse on Elena, while Rebekah joked that the twins would love that a friend of their mother's had been under a real-life Sleeping Beauty curse.

Bonnie had heard Rebekah's remark and was theorizing what would have happened if the twins had tried to siphon off the spell, when the vampires heard a set of light footsteps coming from the room Bonnie had been working in.

Standing in the doorway was Elena Gilbert, wearing a blue dress, her straight brown hair hanging loose over her shoulders. For someone who had spent over three years in a magically-induced coma, Elena looked remarkably stable as she walked towards them, her flat shoes tapping rhythmically on the wood flooring. The expression on her face was one of genuine wonder, until it gave way to confusion, which was then eclipsed by horror when she saw Damon, bloody and tied up.

"Turn around," Klaus ordered.

Though Damon had not been compelled to follow all of Klaus's orders, he did as he was told.

"Damon?" Elena gasped.

"You may answer her," Klaus allowed. "And honestly, torturing you won't be much fun if I can't hear you scream, so you may speak now, unless I tell you otherwise."

"Elena," Damon breathed, a genuine smile spreading across his bloodstained face.

{ }

On the third day of Klaus's absence, Caroline already had a headache the moment she woke up.

The girls had, once again, woken up uncharacteristically early, and were already demanding to be fed and entertained.

As soon as Klaus got back, Caroline was going to spend the day shopping, or at a spa, and he could stay home playing Disney princess board games and try frantically to remember which twin liked orange juice and which one didn't.

"Mommy," the twins whined through the door.

Lizzie liked orange juice. Josie preferred grape.

Caroline pulled herself out of bed.

She led the girls downstairs to the dining room, served them some breakfast, and buried her head in her arms.

"Are you okay?" a quiet voice asked.

Caroline looked up to see Davina, wearing a plain white nightgown, leaning over her.

She was fairly certain that this was the first time Davina had said something to her that didn't involve the twins somehow. Caroline was more trusting of Davina than most of the rest of the family, since she didn't think Davina would be there, in the Mikaelsons' house, if she want to be there. But Davina was quiet, and she spent almost all of her time with Kol, and other than offering to help the girls with their magic, she hadn't really made any attempts to reach out to the rest of them.

"I think I have a tension headache," Caroline said. "I didn't even think vampires could get tension headaches."

"I don't think so either," Davina replied.

Caroline groaned. Turning her head, she saw a piece of paper at the other end of the table. She scanned the note quickly, then summarized it for everyone at the table.

"Elijah has gone to inform Marcel and Vincent of Klaus's absence, since no one anticipated him being gone this long," Caroline informed them.

"When is he coming back?" Hope asked.

"I'm not sure, ladybug," Caroline answered truthfully.

Hope pouted, but otherwise seemed to accept that Caroline didn't know anything about Klaus's return that she didn't.

"So, Uncle Elijah is out; Aunt Katherine, Aunt Bonnie, and Aunt Freya are still asleep; and Uncle Finn is in his room, doing whatever it is he does. I like to think that he is engaged in a lofty academic pursuit, such as translating _The Iliad_ from its original Greek, or comparing folios and quartos looking for evidence that Shakespeare did not actually write his plays," Caroline mused. "What do you want to do this morning, girls?"

"Can we go outside?" Josie asked.

"You played in the courtyard yesterday morning, but if you want to do that again, it's fine with me," Caroline agreed.

"No, I mean outside, outside," Josie whined. "Can we go to the playground, please?"

"I'm afraid we can't do that, honey," Caroline replied apologetically.

"Why not?" Hope challenged.

"Because your dad asked us not to go out without him," Caroline told her. "He just wants us to be safe."

Hope sighed and stomped out of the room, the twins following on her heels.

"Now I'm the strict, no fun parent. See, this is usually where they go to Klaus, who gives them whatever they want. But since he's not here, they're just mad. Good cop-bad cop only works when you have two cops!" Caroline exclaimed.

"You're just trying to keep them safe," Davina pointed out.

"They don't see it that way," Caroline sighed.

"You know, if you really need some time to yourself, you could always call Hayley and have her take the girls to the bayou. It would at least be a change of scenery for them," Davina suggested.

"Oh, no. I'm not doing that," Caroline insisted immediately.

Davina looked taken aback by Caroline's vehemence.

"Sorry, I didn't know you would feel so strongly," she said. "I mean, she is Hope's mom."

"And I'm the twins' mom," Caroline said. "I am not going to call up Hayley and tell her that I can't handle taking care of the girls without Klaus's help and would she please rescue me? In her world, showing emotion and asking for help are weaknesses. If I asked her for help, she would crown herself the superior mother and taunt me with it for the rest of our lives. I will persevere. And there are a lot of single mothers out there, who care for their children all on their own, all the time, so I have nothing to complain about."

"I guess I don't really know either of you very well yet," Davina concluded, sounding a little sad and a little guilty.

"Well, the great thing about friendship is that you can start any time," Caroline smiled, offering her hand to Davina. "I'll answer whatever questions you have about me, and you can tell me all about yourself—as long as you come with me to find my very annoyed and very capable-of-burning-the-house-down children."

Davina smiled in return, taking Caroline's hand.

"Sounds good to me."

They found the girls in Klaus's room, where they had been sleeping since he left. All three of them had managed to tire themselves out and were lying haphazardly across the bed, fast asleep.

"They've been getting up so early; their little tantrum this morning was probably just a result of them being overtired," Caroline whispered.

"Should we go and let them sleep?" Davina asked.

Caroline glanced back at the bed. Lizzie's long blonde hair was spread out over Josie's face. Josie was curled up in a ball, facing the foot of the bed. Hope's sea foam green nightgown had ridden up as the girl sprawled across the bed like a starfish.

Caroline instinctively reached forward to pull it back down into place. Then she brushed Lizzie's hair off of Josie's face.

"I'll be able to hear them from anywhere, so let's go to my room," Caroline said.

Caroline and Davina were able to enjoy a few hours of conversation before the girls woke up. Caroline wouldn't consider Davina a sister like she did Rebekah, Freya, Bonnie, and Katherine just yet, but they did have a greater understanding of the other's experiences and perspectives, and they were on their way to becoming good friends.

Once they woke up, the girls were in a calmer and more cooperative mood. They were content to play princesses, changing into their costumes to match their dolls.

Of course, the most fun part of the day was when the girls tried to convince Elijah to play the role of their prince. Needless to say, Elijah politely refused, but his expression when he was asked sent Caroline and Davina into an uncontrollable fit of giggles.

{ }

 _Mystic Falls, Virginia_

Elena ran towards Damon, embracing him as well as she could in his current state.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her head in his shoulder…

…And then, very carefully, she bit into his carotid artery.

With vampire fangs.

In one quick, smooth motion, Katherine stood up and spat the blood she hadn't been able to avoid spilling into her mouth on Damon's lap.

"I need to rinse my mouth out; I cannot ingest any cure-infected blood. I refuse to go through that ordeal again," Katherine announced.

"Here," Kol offered, handing her a bottle of the Salvatores' bourbon.

Damon whined in protest.

"Be quiet," Klaus ordered.

"When did you get here?" Rebekah asked Katherine.

"Well, Bonnie and I figured out where you were going pretty quickly and we wanted to do our part, so we snuck out after breakfast this morning, and we got here, I don't know, around eleven, maybe?" Katherine answered.

"And you've been in the house this whole time?" Kol asked.

"Yep!" Katherine confirmed. "Mostly hiding inside that little room with Elena's coffin, but I did run upstairs to get some clothes to change her into so I could wear this," she gestured to the dress she was wearing. "Speaking of this dress, now that I'm finished playing my part, I'm going to change back into some real clothes, because I feel like Mary Sue Barbie."

Katherine returned a few minutes later wearing skinny black jeans, tall black leather boots, and a black leather jacket over a deep red silk camisole trimmed with black lace. Her hair had been swept up into a sleek bun, hiding its straightened texture.

"I am me again," Katherine cheered.

"I don't know how you do it," Rebekah shook her head. "Elena had such a hard time pretending to be you, remember, but you don't have any trouble playing her."

"And they all fall for it every time," Katherine smirked.

"Now, please don't mistake this for caring about the youngest doppelganger, but Elena is still lying in a coffin under the effects of a sleeping spell, correct?" Klaus asked Bonnie.

"Nothing has changed for Elena except the dress she's wearing," Katherine confirmed.

"Then you went to all that trouble just to hoodwink Damon into thinking you were Elena for a minute? That was brilliant!" Kol praised.

"It wasn't my idea," Katherine corrected.

Kol turned to Bonnie, visibly shocked.

"This was your idea?" Kol asked.

"I just remembered all of the other times Katherine has participated in a scheme, and usually it was because we needed her to pretend to be Elena, so that Elena could be both bait, and safe and sound at home," Bonnie explained. "Combined with what I remembered Klaus telling Hayley about his opinions regarding physical versus psychological torture, this seemed like the best way to contribute my magic and Katherine's talent for imitation."

"You are my hero, little witch," Kol beamed.

"But now that we've accomplished what we set out to, we should back before Caroline has Freya put a sleeping spell like Elena's on all three girls," Katherine proposed.

"What's wrong with Caroline and the girls?" Klaus demanded.

"Nothing's wrong, per se," Bonnie stalled. "They've just gotten used to you being around, and the girls miss you three and aren't exactly being calm and cooperative in your absence."

"But why? They know we'll be back in a few days," Klaus said.

"Do they?" Bonnie challenged. "All they know is that their dad, or the father-like figure they live with, just took off without telling them where he was going, why he was going there, or when he would be back. Plus, he took one of their favorite aunts with him without an explanation. They're little kids. They wouldn't understand what you're doing here even if they knew. All they know is you're not with them."

Klaus felt like Bonnie had hit him. He hadn't meant to neglect the children in favor of getting revenge for Caroline, but it seemed that that was exactly what he had done. Leaving with hardly a word to anyone was impulsive, he admitted, but he was just so angry that someone had hurt his love that he hadn't been thinking straight. He had assumed the girls would be fine without him for a few days, but clearly he had been wrong, and if Bonnie was this upset with him, Caroline would be even more so.

"Katherine, there was something you wanted to do before we left?" Bonnie prompted.

Katherine thought for a second before her face lit up in recognition.

Then she punched Damon in the jaw so hard his head collided with the back of the chair he was tied to.

"All right, now I'm ready to go," Katherine declared.

"We'll see you at home, hopefully soon," Bonnie said.

Once they were out the door, Klaus turned his attention back to Damon, and started to take all of his frustration out on him. If Damon hadn't hurt Caroline, Klaus wouldn't be here getting revenge, away from his children, and for that, Damon had to pay.

From there, he lost track of time.

He kept hitting Damon, while his siblings looked on; Rebekah looking more and more disturbed as he continued.

Once Damon looked like he couldn't take another hit—long after the sun set and Rebekah had fallen asleep on the couch—Klaus changed tactics, giving Damon visions of horrible, painful scenarios: Elena telling him that she hated him and never wanted to see him again, Elena dying, Elena killing Damon, Stefan killing Damon, Stefan telling Damon what a horrible brother he was and that he deserved to have died in Stefan's place.

He forced Damon to watch them all on repeat all night, until the sun was high in the sky.

"Nik, Bonnie's right, we should go home. I don't think there's anything you could do to him that you haven't done already," Rebekah said.

"Fine, I just have to compel him and then we can go," Klaus conceded.

"Wait," Kol interrupted, stepping forward to hit Damon with his baseball bat once again in each knee and on either side of his ribs. "Okay, now I'm done."

Klaus gripped Damon's jaw, forcing him to look him in the eye, and started his compulsion.

"You will leave Mystic Falls and never return. You will not come to New Orleans. You will never again trouble your dear friends Caroline and Bonnie, both of whom you admire and respect greatly, with your presence, nor will you initiate contact with either of them, because they deserve much better than a horrible friend and horrible person like you. You will never make any attempt to break Elena's curse, nor will you ask anyone else to do so on your behalf. If Elena ever finds you, you will tell her that as a self-imposed punishment for all of the terrible things that you did over the course of your life, you cannot be with her. You will forget everything that has happened for the last three days, and though you will remember and abide by every word of my compulsion, you will forget that you have been compelled and who compelled you," Klaus instructed, then blinked to release Damon from his compulsion.

Before Damon could blink, all three Originals were gone.

{ }

Caroline had just tucked the girls into bed when she heard a commotion in the courtyard.

She went downstairs to see Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol returning home.

As soon as Klaus caught sight of her, he swiftly swept her up in his arms.

"No one will ever hurt you again, not once they see that fate that awaits anyone who even thinks of disrespecting my queen," Klaus vowed. "Which is good, since I missed you while I was getting vengeance on your behalf."

"I missed you, too," Caroline replied. She really had missed him, even as annoyed as she had been that he had left without warning, leaving her with the girls.

The girls must have heard Klaus's voice, because after only a moment, there was a stampede of little footsteps on the stairs as they came running.

Caroline stepped out of the way so that Klaus could hug the girls, who immediately started chattering to him about what they'd done while he was gone.

"Were you girls good for your mother while I was gone?" Klaus asked them.

All three girls nodded their heads emphatically.

Caroline wasn't sure what surprised her more: that Klaus referred to her as all three girls' mother, or that Hope accepted it without question.

"Now, it's past your bedtime, so let's get you in bed now, and you can tell me everything I've missed in the morning, all right?" Klaus proposed.

The girls scampered back up the stairs, followed by Rebekah, who had offered to tuck them in.

"Three days of them fighting me over everything, and you tell them to go to bed and they do without complaint," Caroline sighed.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure it's a fluke," Klaus offered.

"It does actually," Caroline admitted. "And since all three of you arrived home in one piece, I'm assuming you managed to avoid Esther while you were in Mystic Falls?"

"Esther isn't in Mystic Falls," Klaus informed her.

"Then where is she?"

* * *

Where is Esther? Any guesses?

Also, please be honest: did I fool any of you, even for a minute, into thinking Elena was really awake? Or did you know right away what Bonnie and Katherine's plan was?

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	29. Chapter XXIX: Along the Fault Lines

Hello loves! _The Originals_ might be taking this week off, but I'm not, so here's a new chapter for you!

Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter! I was very proud of myself when I saw that I surprised at least one of you with Bonnie's plan! I'm also pleased that most of you seem to be content with how I wrote Damon and the way that Klaus punished Damon for hurting Caroline.

I'm also thrilled that so many of you have mentioned your excitement for the Klaroline baby, because I'm really excited, too! We're only five chapters away! There's another hint about the baby in this chapter for you that I'm honestly not sure anyone will fully understand at this point, but I'd love to hear your reactions! Please feel free to send me any guesses or questions you may have about the baby, and I will respond to them if I can without giving too much away! And in response to questions about this storyline: no, Caroline is not yet pregnant—trust me, you'll know when it happens; and I can't tell you exactly what Esther's intentions are, but I can reassure you that as dark and twisted as her plan is, she isn't planning to kill the baby (there's no way I could write something that awful).

I also received some really thoughtful questions about the twins' magic, and the answer to most of them is, I'm not really sure. I don't think that they can give magic to someone who isn't a witch, but I haven't really set the limits of what they can do. They have some magic of their own, they can siphon magic from another supernatural creature and use that magic to supplement their own, but other than that, I'm not sure what the full extent of their abilities are, especially because they're still so young. I would like to write about the girls when they're older, and their magic would certainly be a topic that I would want to explore.

Also, I don't plan to include any of the heretics in this story. I don't think the Mikaelsons would welcome them, and honestly, I already have my hands full with all of the characters in the story already!

And for all of the Kol and Bonnie shippers in the reviews, Katherine makes a snarky comment this chapter that I think sums up the Bonnie/Kol/Davina dynamic in a pithy, amusing way. I personally don't ship any of them, but I do like the idea of Kol and Bonnie being really close and being magic experts who help take down their family's enemies together.

Other notes:

In response to a question about my update schedule, my primary concern is posting a chapter every week. I post the chapter as soon as I finish the next one, whatever day of the week that is.

I'm also glad that someone caught my hint with Elijah in the last chapter… he almost told all three girls to listen to their mother, before catching himself when he remembered that Caroline isn't actually Hope's mother.

This chapter picks up immediately after the end of the last one.

There is some anti-Elena sentiment in this chapter, which I wouldn't say is really mean, but it is worse than Katherine's 'Mary Sue Barbie' comment from last chapter.

Klaus gets a little suggestive in this chapter, which, for the record, I did not give him permission to do, it just sort of happened. I don't think he gets vulgar enough to be offensive, but I thought I should warn you just in case.

I apologize if the hints and foreshadowing in this chapter are a little heavy-handed, but I think all of it is important, especially Klaus and Caroline's conversation and Hope's questions.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Star Wars_ , or any of the previously disclaimed Disney movies.

Happy reading!

* * *

"I don't know," Klaus said. "But I do know that I've missed you, and the girls are in bed…" he trailed off, reaching out for Caroline.

"Oh, no, I'm annoyed with you," Caroline replied.

"May I have a chance to acquit myself?" Klaus asked with a smile.

"I haven't decided yet," Caroline told him.

They made their way upstairs, running into Rebekah in the hallway.

"The girls are tucked in bed," Rebekah informed them. "I've really missed those three. And I missed you, too, sister," she said, stepping forward to hug Caroline.

"I missed you, too, Bekah," Caroline replied.

"Well, we have had an exhausting few days, so I'm off to bed. Goodnight," Rebekah said, opening the door to her room.

Caroline entered her own room next to Rebekah's, assuming that Klaus was following her, but she didn't see him when she turned around.

Klaus entered the room seconds later, a worried look on his face.

"The girls aren't in their beds," he announced.

Caroline raced down the hallway to Klaus's room, where the girls had been sleeping for the past few days. Sure enough, they were all there, sleeping in a row.

Caroline felt Klaus's sigh of relief against the back of her neck once he saw them.

"I've been putting them to sleep in here while you were gone," Caroline explained. "It was easier to have them in the same place, plus I hoped the excitement of a little sleepover together and the novelty of a different room would help them feel a little better about you not being here."

Klaus nodded, taking a few steps further into the room. He sat down on the right side of the bed, just a few inches from Lizzie.

Lizzie must have felt the bed sink under his weight, which must have been greater than the weight of the three girls in the bed.

"Daddy?" she whispered softly, her eyes still closed.

Caroline froze in the doorway. She knew Lizzie was at least half asleep, and relying on her experience that when someone came to check on her while she was sleeping, it was usually her father.

But the time had long since passed when Caroline could still pretend that Klaus wasn't a father to her children. Klaus loved and provided for the twins. He saw them nearly every day. He considered himself responsible for their safety, well-being, happiness, and education.

Klaus was the best father Caroline could have wished for for her daughters.

She just didn't know how Klaus would feel about any of them actually expressing those feelings out loud.

But Klaus didn't even miss a beat.

"I'm right here, little angel," Klaus whispered, stroking Lizzie's hair. "I love you so much."

He brushed Lizzie's hair off of her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then he repeated the process with Josie and Hope—telling them he loved them and kissing them good night.

If Klaus noticed the tear tracks on Caroline's face, brought on by the heartfelt, emotional moment she had just witnessed, he didn't comment on them, simply taking her hand and leading her back to her room.

"I missed them," Klaus said.

Caroline just nodded, not knowing what to say and not trusting her voice.

"Are you okay with what she said?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Caroline answered. "I just wasn't sure how you would react, but then again, you referred to me as all three girls' mother less than an hour ago, so…"

"Caroline, you know I love the twins like they were my own, and I know you feel the same way about Hope," Klaus replied.

Caroline curled up under her covers, still fully dressed. Klaus sat down on the edge of the bed, facing her, just like he had done with Lizzie a few minutes earlier.

"True," Caroline said. "And compared to the rest of the family drama, having stepparents might be the most normal thing about the girls' family life. Though I'm not looking forward to the day I have to explain all of this to them. I mean, how do you tell a couple of little girls that you're not their biological mother and that she was killed before they were born? Or that the family they love is made up of thousand-year-old vampires?"

"I'll leave your explanation of Alaric and the Gemini Coven up to your best judgment, but when it comes to explaining the Mikaelsons, you should start by telling them that all of us promise to love them, always and forever."

Caroline started crying again as she filled in the gaps of what Klaus was really saying: the twins were now included in the promise that Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah had made to stay together as a family, always and forever; that they were family, to Klaus and to all of his siblings; that they were Mikaelsons, with all the weight that name carried.

"As far as families go, this is a pretty good one," Caroline said. "Everyone is always loved, and no one is ever lonely. You would all kill and die for each other at any moment. And this sounds unfair to them, but it's almost like the twins and Hope each have another family, with Alaric, and with Hayley and Jackson. Maybe they're not really a part of this family, but they are part of each of the girls' families. It's easy to pretend that the girls are ours, but they have their own separate families that don't include us."

"I'm sorry," Klaus said. "I know how hard it is for you when the twins stay with Alaric. I can compel him to forget your little custody arrangement if you'd like?"

"That would be wrong," Caroline shook her head. "I just wish we could have that, you know? Children that are all ours, that we don't have to share custody with history teachers or royal werewolves. If that's what you wanted, too, of course," Caroline faltered when she couldn't tell what Klaus was thinking.

Klaus pulled Caroline onto his lap so that she was facing him, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"If there is a way, I will find it for you," Klaus promised. "Would you like a boy or a girl?"

"I don't think it works like that," Caroline laughed. "Why, do you have a preference?"

"Let me think," Klaus started, moving them so that they were both sitting up against the headboard with Caroline reclining languidly in his arms. "You know I love our little girls, and another one would be a blessing I know I don't deserve. Of course, a little girl as beautiful as you might actually cause the destruction of the supernatural world, since I would never be able to deny her anything and would brutally murder anyone who looked at her in a way I didn't like. And if we had a little boy, you could name him after your father if you wanted, and… my father wasn't a good father to his sons, and as a result of that, I've concluded, I wasn't a very good father to my son, when Marcel was young. I can't go back in time and be a better father to him, but if I had another son, I could prove to all of us that I am capable of being a good father to a son, that Mikael can't affect me anymore."

"I can picture them," Caroline said. "All golden curls, and blue eyes, and dimples. They would be beautiful if they were real."

"I'll find a way for you," Klaus repeated his promise, gently stroking her hair. "And we can always start practicing now, if you'd like."

Caroline laughed softly.

"No, still annoyed with you," she answered. "And I'm sleepy."

"All right, sweetheart," Klaus acquiesced.

Caroline changed into her pajamas and curled up under the covers, waiting for Klaus to get ready and come to bed as well.

A few minutes later, Klaus slid into bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I've missed you," Klaus whispered in her ear. "I've hated sleeping without you in my arms."

"I've hated sleeping without you, too," Caroline replied.

"I'm here now, angel. You'll never have to sleep without me again."

{ }

Marcel, Vincent, and Josh showed up the next morning, surprised to see Klaus at home when Elijah had just told them the previous day that he had left town and hadn't returned as soon as expected.

Their arrival had brought everyone into the courtyard to meet them, though the responses to their presence differed. Davina offered them all welcoming hugs, while Katherine studied the group appraisingly, and Kol seemed completely ambivalent.

"Were you ever planning on telling us you left, or why you were leaving?" Marcel asked.

"It was personal," Klaus answered. "And we have bigger problems now. Esther is missing."

"And how do you propose we try to find an Original Witch who doesn't want to be found?" Vincent asked.

"You have to think like the person you're trying to find," Hope declared solemnly, making everyone turn to look at her. The girls were usually quiet during these sorts of meetings, as they were too young to understand the intricacies of the supernatural skirmishes their family was fighting.

"That is very sage advice, thank you, Obi Wan," Josh replied affectionately.

"Obi Wan?" Hope asked.

"From _Star Wars_?" Josh prompted. "'Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope,'" he quoted, but Hope didn't look any less confused. "You've never seen _Star Wars_ , okay. Though you would know the movie at least if you'd ever searched your name, since the movie that that line is from is literally called 'A New Hope.' You are our only Hope, as in the only person we know named Hope, thus you are Obi Wan. Don't worry, it's a compliment. He was one of the good guys, and he was wise and moral, full of integrity and courage."

"Cool," Hope beamed.

"Does anyone here feel confident in their ability to think like Esther, though? She has outsmarted and outmaneuvered us many a time in the past," Elijah said.

"Finn was the closest to her of all of us, and he insisted he knew nothing of what she was planning," Klaus added.

"So, what you're saying is that we don't know where Esther is or what she's planning, and we don't know anyone who knows where she is or what she's planning," Kol summarized.

"Yes."

"Well, at least we're not at a disadvantage, that would be awful," Kol replied sarcastically.

"Is there anything we can use to our advantage?" Marcel asked. "Anything you learned during your meeting with Genevieve that might be helpful?" he asked Klaus.

"I've already told you everything she told me," Klaus answered. "And there is something that we know that she doesn't, but I don't want to use it."

"And what is that?" Vincent asked.

Klaus glared at him.

"She doesn't know that the twins are siphoners," Klaus answered. "She told me that she had no intention of hurting them, called them 'just ordinary witches.' Which makes sense. They can probably tell from a distance that they have magic in them, but unless a person saw them in action or someone told them, there would be no reason that anyone would know what the twins are capable of."

"So you're telling me that our only secret weapon against the Original Witch is a couple of three-year-olds whose mother will surely object to them helping because it might put them in danger?" Vincent asked.

"My children are not a weapon," Caroline hissed.

She wasn't even angry with Vincent for implying that they were: she'd learned by now that in New Orleans, everything was a constant negotiation to keep the balance of power. Any advantage any party had over another was something they could use to bargain for something they wanted or would give them more power. Caroline just hated that her daughters had apparently become one of those advantages; something they could use to tip the scales in their favor in their battle against Esther.

"Of course not," Klaus was quick to concur. "But it is good that Esther and Genevieve don't know about the girls' magic. If they knew, the twins would be targets, just like Hope. The fewer people know that Lizzie and Josie are siphoners, the safer they are."

"So what do we do now?" Marcel asked. "I couldn't tell you where to begin looking for Esther, or even if we want to find her. I assume a witch of her ability could put herself under a strong cloaking spell. We might not hear from her again until she seeks us out."

"She also knew to do some sort of anchoring spell after coming back from The Void," Bonnie pointed out. "But we don't know for sure that she did the spell on Genevieve as well. Maybe we should try looking for her as well?"

"That's as good a place to start as any," Elijah agreed.

"We're just going to run all over the city trying to find Genevieve and hope that Esther is with her?" Kol asked incredulously.

"Do you have a better idea?" Bonnie challenged.

"No," Kol immediately relented.

Katherine laughed.

"Between your wife and your girlfriend, you're on a tight leash," she joked, referring to Bonnie and Davina.

"Very funny," Kol scoffed.

"Does anyone have anything of Genevieve's that we can use for a locator spell?" Bonnie asked, putting her hands on her hips, clearly getting annoyed with the banter.

"Yes, actually," Klaus answered, to everyone's surprise. He sped upstairs and returned seconds later with an ordinary-looking beaded bracelet. "I took this from her at our meeting for occasions such as this."

"That would have been something to mention when I asked if we had anything we could use to our advantage," Vincent sighed. "Between all of us, there's a substantial amount of magic that we can do from here if we have a possession of hers."

"Well, technically," Klaus started, but trailed off when he saw Vincent's irritated, no-nonsense glare. "Here, have the bracelet, do your spells."

Bonnie took the bracelet from Klaus and quickly did the locator spell.

"She must be cloaked, too," Bonnie informed them when the spell didn't work.

"Does that mean that none of the other magic Vincent mentioned will work either?" Caroline asked.

"I'm afraid so," Bonnie answered.

"So what do we do now?" Katherine asked. "I mean, it's stupid to go out looking for an enemy who's surely planning something against us, but do we really want to stay here and do nothing?"

"I thought our advantage over them was that all together we were more powerful," Caroline said. "If we split up to go look for them, we lose that advantage. Plus, what would we even do if we found them? I would rather not open that can of worms unless we have to."

"Caroline is right," Elijah said. "When it comes to Esther, we have always been more successful when we are on defense. We should be prepared for her to attack at any time, but until she does, let us continue with our everyday activities. We can't let her think that she scares us."

Everyone agreed with Elijah's analysis of the situation, and the group broke up shortly afterwards. Marcel, Vincent, and Josh left; Bonnie, Davina, and Kol went into the kitchen; Elijah went into his study; Freya and Finn went back upstairs; and Katherine and Rebekah decided to go out for coffee and beignets.

Which left Klaus, Caroline, and their children alone in the courtyard.

{ }

It was hard to tell what and how much of the conversation that the girls had understood.

Even after everyone except their parents had left, they didn't cry or scream or ask questions.

They simply sat down on the floor, looking up at their parents expectantly.

"I told myself that I was going to spend today at the spa," Caroline said. "Or shopping, or something else just for fun."

"I would really rather you didn't leave the house, not with Esther and Genevieve out there somewhere, plotting," Klaus replied.

Caroline raised her eyebrows, facing him with a challenging stare.

"You left the state, for three days, without telling anyone where you were going or how long you would be gone, and you're telling me that I'm forbidden from leaving the house?" Caroline questioned.

"I understand your frustration, sweetheart, but I think we would both rather not argue in front of the girls if we could avoid it," Klaus replied.

Following his gaze, Caroline saw that the girls were still sitting on the ground, though they'd stopped staring at them and instead were playing one of those clapping games that Caroline remembered from the elementary school playground.

Caroline sighed.

It only took seconds for Kol to appear in the courtyard, with Bonnie and Davina following him closely. They each picked up one of the girls.

"Go ahead and fight now," Kol encouraged before flashing back into the dining room, while Bonnie and Davina followed at a human pace.

Klaus put his hand on Caroline's back and gently, but firmly, led her upstairs to his room, the room where the girls had slept when he'd been in Mystic Falls.

"I know that you must think that I'm being unfair and controlling," Klaus started. "But I'm just trying to keep you safe. I would never forgive myself if Esther and Genevieve managed to hurt you or the girls."

"I understand that," Caroline replied, leaning against the foot of the bed and crossing her arms. "And I understand that I'm weaker than everyone else in this house. I know that you aren't trying to control me so that you have a little wife making sure dinner is on the table as soon as you come home as part of some misogynistic alpha male fantasy. I know that you are just trying to keep me safe, and discouraging me from wandering around the city alone with powerful enemies at large is one way you know how to keep me safe."

And Caroline really did appreciate that Klaus seemed determined to keep her safe at all cost. It was a refreshing contrast to her previous relationships, in which she was often left to fend for herself, while simultaneously not being considered a valued member of their group of friends.

"Then what is it that's upsetting you?" Klaus asked.

"This is supposed to be a relationship, a partnership," Caroline explained.

"Yes…"

"So you have to treat me like a partner," Caroline cried. "I know that you're used to making your own decisions and not answering to anyone, but if this relationship is going to work, you have to talk to me, you can't just order me around and then do whatever you want, whenever you want."

"I was doing it for you!" Klaus insisted. "I had to get revenge against Damon for what he did to you!"

"First of all, no, you didn't have to," Caroline retorted. "Second of all, you were gone for three days. I don't even want to know what torture you were able to inflict in three whole days. And third, while you were off defending my honor, or whatever you want to call it, I was left at home caring for our daughters all by myself. Yes, they had aunts and uncles here who helped, but at the end of the day, I was the only parent in the house. And it was fine, I managed, and I gained a whole new appreciation for single mothers, especially my own, but I resent the attitude that you can just do whatever you want without consulting anyone and just assume that someone else will pick up your slack and take care of Hope while you're gone."

Caroline felt all of the stress she had felt over the past three days bubble up to the surface. She had never been upset that Klaus had gone to Mystic Falls, since she knew that there was nothing she could have said or done to keep Klaus from going, and she'd learned to pick her battles when it came to Klaus's body count and bloodshed. She'd been annoyed that he had left suddenly and with no explanation of any sort of plan, to her or to their daughters. Caroline didn't expect or even want Klaus to start asking her permission to do things, but she thought it would be nice if he would include her in his plans, especially when his plans depended on her being the children's sole caretaker for a period of time.

"I know, Bonnie told me that you and the girls resented our sudden absence," Klaus said.

"Great, now I have Bonnie tattling on me. I think I liked it better when she hated you," Caroline sighed.

She didn't really prefer that, of course, but she hadn't anticipated Bonnie sharing her struggles with Klaus.

"She was just trying to help," Klaus insisted. "And you're both right, I was just so angry that someone had hurt you and then gotten away with it that I couldn't think straight. All I knew was that I needed to make him pay for hurting you, and that I wouldn't be able to rest until I did so."

"And I know that retaliating against people who have harmed people you care about is one of your ways of showing your love, and I appreciate you defending me so fiercely on this, but you can't just leave your daughter without telling her where you're going and when you're coming back," Caroline said.

"I didn't leave her," Klaus responded. "I wish you'd stop saying that I left. I just went out of town for a few days. I didn't leave Hope. I have never, and I will never, voluntarily leave Hope."

"Well, Hope isn't as sure about that," Caroline replied. "And I know you're used to parenting with Hayley, whose emotional range is limited to anger and self-righteous indignation, but I get scared and worried and sad. I went through the whole spectrum of emotions while you were gone, but I don't think anything hurt me quite as much as when I had to tell Hope that I didn't know when her dad was coming home!"

Klaus looked stunned. Perhaps she shouldn't have shouted, but Caroline could feel her frustration reaching a boiling point.

"You say you want to be a father to the twins, but if that's what you really want, than you have to mean it. They need you to be stable and reliable. You can't just leave with no warning when some supernatural crisis or another comes up, and leave them wondering when you're coming home. Look, for better or for worse, Hope is stuck with you and Hayley. But if you hurt my daughters, whether with your presence or your absence, I will have no choice but to leave, as much as it would kill me to be away from you, because my children always have to be my first priority. My dad died, rather than become a vampire like me, and he tortured me because he hated that his little girl was a vampire, but I was just an ordinary human girl who needed her dad when he walked out on me, and I refuse to let my daughters suffer the way I did."

Klaus's expression went from shocked to anguished in seconds.

"You're right, I know," Klaus answered. "As soon as Bonnie told me that you and the girls were upset that I'd gone to Mystic Falls, I knew that I had gone about this all wrong, and I just got so angry and I took it out on Damon. I thought that if it hadn't been for him hurting you, I never would have gone to Mystic Falls in the first place. I assumed that the girls would understand that I would be back in a few days."

"What were they supposed to think when you left without telling them where you were going or when you were coming home? And then you didn't answer when I called because the girls wanted you to read them a bedtime story. They're so young, Klaus. They've only known you for a few months. They've come to love you and rely on you in such a short period of time, so it was shocking for them to have you not be there for them."

"I am going to make this up to them," Klaus promised. "And I'm going to make it up to you, too. I promise."

"I think an apology would go a long way," Caroline suggested. "We've been keeping them in dark with Esther's schemes so as not to scare them, so they don't understand a lot of what's been going on. I'll stand by whatever explanation you want to give them for why you left, but I think they deserve some sort of explanation."

Klaus stepped forward until he was close enough to reach out and place his hands on Caroline's arms.

"I'm sorry for not considering the impact that my plan would have on you and our daughters," Klaus apologized. "Mikael once told me that my impulse was what kept me from being great, and though I take his opinion of me with a grain of salt, I see that in this situation my impulsiveness hurt you and the girls, and for that I apologize. I will do everything I can not to be so thoughtless in the future."

Caroline smiled.

"I accept your apology, which was textbook perfect, by the way, have you been practicing?" Caroline teased.

Klaus chuckled.

"No, I guess I just have natural talent," he remarked. "Now I need to go find my little princesses and hope that they are as forgiving as you are, my love."

"Go talk to them, and then we have to decide what to tell them about Esther. They're getting restless being cooped up in the house, and they don't understand why. But there's something I have to do first," Caroline replied.

Klaus just nodded, either because he could guess what it was that Caroline needed to do, or because he trusted her to tell him when she felt comfortable doing so or when he needed to know.

Klaus headed downstairs to the dining room, where Kol had taken the girls, while Caroline walked down the hallway, and knocked on a closed bedroom door.

{ }

"Come in," she said.

Caroline opened the door.

"Do you have a minute?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, of course," Rebekah answered.

Caroline closed the door behind her and sat on the edge of Rebekah's bed.

"Klaus dragged you with him to Mystic Falls," Caroline started. "I think you deserve to know why."

Like she had with Freya a few days earlier, Caroline told Rebekah the whole story of how Damon had hurt her, how her friends had reacted, how she'd been forced to remember all of the abuse after her transition, and how Klaus had reacted when she'd told him.

Like Freya, Rebekah cried and hugged Caroline when she heard her story.

"Now I wish I'd hit him harder," Rebekah lamented.

Caroline laughed softly. They might hate to admit it, but Klaus and Rebekah were almost eerily similar sometimes.

"Who else knows about this?" Rebekah asked.

"Stefan always knew, Elena found out while it was happening, Bonnie found out afterwards, I told Katherine the day I got kidnapped, I told Klaus the day Damon called, and I told Freya while you were gone," Caroline answered.

"Someone knew the whole time and didn't try to help you?" Rebekah asked, incredulous.

"He did, eventually, once he could come up with a way to help me that didn't threaten Elena," Caroline replied.

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"I never understood what was so special about her," she said. "I mean, I've known two other people who have looked exactly like her, and they each had more personality than she did. Someone was always praising her compassion, but she murdered my brother and all of the vampires he sired because she didn't like being a vampire, which is the most selfish thing I can imagine. And what kind of person dates their friend's abuser? If the situation were reversed, you would have been shunned by all of your friends and sent on an endless guilt trip by Elena herself. Then again, if it had been Elena who had been through what you had, the person who had hurt her would probably have been drawn and quartered or something equally painful. Nik said that we weren't allowed to kill Damon because you didn't want to upset her, but why do you care so much about keeping her happy when she clearly isn't nearly as good a friend to you as you are to her?"

"I don't give up on the people I care about," Caroline answered. "Even when they are in magically-induced comas or when they fall in love with someone who hurt me. Plus, if she ever found out that I was the reason Damon was dead, I would be sent on an endless guilt trip, as you put it, and trust me, Elena's guilt trips are to be avoided at all cost. She looks at you with those big doe eyes and somehow manages to twist the situation so that she can play the victim and blame herself for whatever it is you did, which turns into you reassuring her that she's perfect and would never do anything to hurt anyone, and you feel like the hunter who shot Bambi's mother. It's a horrible experience."

"Why were you friends with her again?" Rebekah asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"Come on, she wasn't so bad," Caroline said. "The world of Mystic Falls revolved around Elena Gilbert, and she sort of got used to everything being about her, but that didn't make her a bad person. She was kind, and compassionate, and smart, and a good friend."

"I'm just saying, you've always been better than her," Rebekah elaborated. "Even when I didn't particularly like you, I knew why your friends liked you. You're smart, and loyal, and compassionate, and loving, and strong, and optimistic. And sure, the world of Mystic Falls revolves around Elena, but you're the queen of the whole supernatural world. And not just because of Nik, you earned that place yourself. You're an amazing mum, even after having children under less than ideal circumstances; you're doing brilliantly as the human representative on the council; and you're my favorite not-related-by-blood sister. Stop selling yourself short and settling for second place behind Elena, when you've outshined her."

Caroline was in tears over Rebekah's kind, heartfelt compliments. They had come a long way from being frenemies arguing over the theme of a school dance.

"Thank you, Rebekah," Caroline held the other girl in a warm hug.

"Any time," Rebekah replied.

"Now I have to go find Klaus and the girls, because we have to give them some sort of explanation for why Klaus left and why they can't leave the house, or we will have a revolt on our hands," Caroline said, standing up. "And they may be young, but they are absolutely capable of destruction."

"Yeah, you should go take care of that situation before it gets out of hand," Rebekah recommended.

"Are you all right, with everything? I feel like this conversation was not equal parts give and take, it was a lot of you giving and me taking," Caroline asked.

"Only you would confess that you'd been abused in every conceivable way, and then check to make sure the person you'd confessed to was feeling okay after hearing about what you'd been through," Rebekah smiled wryly. "I'm fine, Care. Go take care of your girls."

"Okay," Caroline agreed. "Thanks, Rebekah."

{ }

When Caroline entered the dining room, she quickly saw the price that Klaus had had to pay to earn the girls' forgiveness.

"Oh my goodness," Caroline gasped.

"Hi, Mommy!" Lizzie grinned.

"Hi, sunshine," Caroline replied. "How exactly did this happen?"

"Dad said that he was sorry that he left and that he wanted to make it up to us," Hope answered. "This is what we asked for. Well, part of what we asked for."

"You asked for stomachaches?" Caroline asked.

The dining room table was covered with all sorts of sweets: candy, cookies, ice cream. The girls' faces and hands were sugary and sticky. They were sitting next to each other on one side of the table, each with an empty bowl and a plate covered with crumbs in front of them. Caroline was already dreading the sugar high, and then inevitable crash, that she would have to get through.

"What else did you ask for?" Caroline asked.

"New dolls, and for him to take us to the playground," Hope responded.

"They drove a hard bargain, my love," Klaus chimed in. He sat at the head of the table, facing Caroline and shooting amused glances toward the girls.

"My children were so sweet and kind before they met you," Caroline shook her head. "And now they resort to bribery."

Klaus chuckled.

"This is what they wanted," he said. "And I thought this conversation might be easier with snacks."

"Maybe you're right," Caroline relented, sitting in the chair next to Klaus.

She hadn't really thought about what to tell the girls about Esther's plan. They were too young to understand some of what had happened, and she didn't want to scare them, but they were starting to stop taking her vague explanations seriously. If her children were ordinary little girls, she probably wouldn't have told them anything; but her girls were incredibly powerful witches who were capable of causing chaos if they were upset. They wouldn't give the girls all of the details, and they would make sure they knew that their entire family would do whatever it took to keep them safe, but they needed to change their strategy of making sure the girls knew nothing about Esther before they started ignoring their warnings completely.

"Girls, there's something that we need to tell you," Caroline started.

"Are you getting married?" Lizzie asked excitedly.

"No, sweetie," Caroline replied.

"Are we getting a baby sister?" Hope asked.

"No."

"Are we getting a baby brother?"

"No; Hope, where is this coming from?" Caroline asked.

"Well, when you say you have something to tell us, it's something bad a lot of the time, and I wanted you to tell us something good, so I said good things," Hope explained.

"Unfortunately, we do have to tell you something bad," Caroline said apologetically. "We don't want you to be scared, so we've been trying to protect you, but you've been asking questions, and we've agreed that you deserve some answers."

Klaus nodded and squeezed her hand, silently offering his support.

"You know how, in some of your princess movies, there's an evil witch?" Caroline asked.

"Like Ursula?" Hope asked.

"Or Maleficent?" Lizzie questioned.

"Right, like Ursula or Maleficent," Caroline agreed, glad that the girls seemed to be following along, at least for now.

"Well, the reason you can't go outside is because there's a real evil witch in New Orleans, and we all just want to keep you safe from her, while we try to get her to leave the city, okay?"

All three girls nodded, wide-eyed. They didn't seem very frightened, anxious, or worried. They seemed to accept Caroline's explanation, her comparison to their favorite movies making the situation seem like an adventure rather than a threat to their safety.

"Klaus, do you have anything to add?" Caroline asked.

"Your request for a baby brother or sister has been noted, and I would like nothing more than to grant your wish," Klaus offered, smiling at Caroline.

"Be serious," Caroline sighed.

"I am being serious," Klaus argued. "And you should know that I am strong enough and scary enough to keep anyone who might wish you ill away from you. You have nothing to be afraid of. I will protect you. You're safe with me, I promise."

"Do you have any questions?" Caroline asked the girls.

Josie shook her head.

"Does she look like Maleficent?" Lizzie asked tentatively.

"No, she looks a lot like your Aunt Rebekah, but about twice as old," Caroline answered.

Lizzie seemed perturbed by that answer.

"Don't worry, they look different enough that you'll be able to tell them apart," Caroline assured her. "How about you girls go watch a movie that doesn't have an evil witch in it?"

The girls obediently hopped down from their chairs and left the room.

"Hey," Klaus squeezed Caroline's hand, guiding her onto his lap. "I am not going to let anyone harm our little princesses, you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," Caroline answered. "I know."

* * *

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Prepare yourselves for next chapter, everyone. I cried while writing it, so if you're a sensitive little soul like me, you'll want to have tissues handy when you read!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	30. Chapter XXX: It Matters a Great Deal

Here we are at chapter thirty! We are slowly approaching the conclusion of this story!

I wanted to make sure to update today in honor of the second episode of _The Originals_ this season to feature Caroline airing tonight. I can't wait for new Klaroline scenes!

Thank you to everyone who left a review on the last chapter! I'm really glad you liked it, since I just saw last chapter as a sort of bridge from the Damon section of the story to… what happens this chapter, and a place for me to put all of the foreshadowing I need before the last major plot points of the story. Klaus and Caroline's conversation last chapter was not intended to confirm anything about their future child, I just wanted to show that they do want a child of their own. And anyone who feels confident that they're certain of information regarding the Klaroline baby (gender, name, birth date, etc.), I really hope I don't disappoint you, but I hope I might surprise you.

Also, I just wanted to quickly clarify that when Caroline and the Mikaelsons say, or when I in the narration write 'the girls,' it refers to Lizzie, Josie, and Hope, and 'the twins' refers to just Lizzie and Josie. However, on the show, Alaric often refers to Lizzie and Josie as 'the girls,' and so as not to be disruptive to characteristic speech patterns, he refers to them that way in this story as well. Perhaps you didn't even need this explanation, but I wanted it to be very clear who is present, especially considering the events of this chapter.

Also, thank you very much to NamesNamesandMoreNames for making fan art for this story! Thank you so much for reading and for sharing your art with me! I'm still not entirely sure how to share it with all of you, but I will figure something out.

And another thing: if anyone has any ideas for what gifts the Mikaelsons might give Caroline for her birthday, I would love to hear your suggestions, they would really help me with a future chapter! (I've already chosen Klaus's gifts, and if you also think that Klaus would be over the top dramatic on Caroline's birthday, you have come to the right place!)

As I warned you a few chapters ago and multiple times since, this chapter does feature the death of a character that has been with us since very early on in the story. I cried while writing that scene (and then again every time I edited it); it's a very emotional moment on multiple levels.

And though it seems relatively insignificant in comparison, after twenty-nine chapters free of swearing, someone says a swear word in this chapter. Considering the circumstances, I felt it was appropriate.

I'm really nervous about this chapter, so please tell me how you felt about it; your reactions are really important to me!

The title for this chapter comes from a quote from my all-time favorite show, _The West Wing_ , in which a character (incorrectly, actually) quotes the movie _The Lion in Winter_ , saying "When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal."

Happy reading!

* * *

The next day was a Friday, which meant that Alaric was scheduled to pick up the twins after his class ended at noon.

"He's late," Klaus snapped.

He was pacing back and forth across the courtyard. The twins packed and ready to go, wearing their backpacks and sitting on the edge of a planter.

"It's only twenty minutes after noon," Caroline said. "Maybe a student asked a question, or there was an accident on one of the streets he takes to get here. Let's not worry yet."

Klaus had wanted Caroline to call Alaric and tell him that the twins couldn't stay with him until after Esther had been defeated. Caroline had refused, not wanting to scare the girls by disrupting their routine, and Caroline didn't want to be unfair to him just because Klaus didn't care about Alaric's feelings on the matter.

When Alaric arrived ten minutes later, Klaus was closer to murderous than irritated.

"Sorry I'm late, the chair of the department stopped me in the hallway and was asking how I was adjusting to New Orleans, I couldn't exactly just blow off my boss," Alaric apologized.

"We understand," Caroline replied. Klaus rolled his eyes, making a face that said, 'speak for yourself.' "Girls, why don't you go say goodbye to your aunts and uncles?"

The twins ran back inside the house, leaving their bags on the ground.

"We actually have bigger problems than your tardiness, mate," Klaus told Alaric.

Klaus proceeded to inform Alaric of their brewing conflict with Esther and Genevieve, Esther's recent trip to Mystic Falls and disappearing act, as well as what they had told the girls.

Alaric listened attentively, his face growing more and more worried as Klaus spoke.

"I should have known this would happen," Alaric shook his head. He turned to Caroline. "I approved of you taking the girls here because I thought he could keep them safe. I should have known that he would actually just make them targets for all of his enemies."

Klaus pushed Alaric up against the gate, his hands wrapped around his throat. Caroline let out a surprised, worried noise in reaction that she didn't entirely recognize herself—it was somewhere between a gasp and a squeak. Klaus glanced over her and offered a small, reassuring smile. He wasn't going to hurt Alaric, he just wanted to prove a point. Typical Klaus.

"I will keep them safe," Klaus growled. "I'd like to see you try to do better."

"They're just normal little girls. They don't deserve to be caught in the crossfire of supernatural family drama," Alaric retorted.

"With all possible respect, Alaric, Lizzie and Josie are not normal little girls. They are incredibly powerful witches and the heirs to the Gemini Coven. From what I understand, they've already been 'caught in the crossfire' of their own 'supernatural family drama.' I am doing everything I can to ensure that Esther never finds out about the twins' abilities, but you need to come to terms with the fact that with or without my enemies, the girls will never be normal, because if the girls see that you're uncomfortable with who they are, they will start to feel uncomfortable with who they are, and no child should have to feel ashamed of who they are because their parents can't accept it," Klaus said, his voice increasing in volume as he spoke.

Caroline knew that Klaus was speaking from experience. His parents had hated what they had turned Klaus and his siblings into, and they were especially horrified when they saw what Klaus had become. Every time she heard or remembered the story, Caroline's heart broke for Klaus. She had also been rejected by her parents when she was turned into a vampire against her will, and so it was important to her that her daughters knew that Caroline would always accept and love them for exactly who they were.

"Of course I accept that the girls are witches," Alaric defended himself. "I just want to keep them away from the supernatural world, and the danger that comes with it, as much as possible."

"It doesn't work that way," Klaus insisted. "You don't get to keep the magic and the power with none of the consequences."

If not for the fact that Klaus had Alaric pinned to the gate, the conversation was more civil than Caroline imagined many of Klaus's interactions went, or how this interaction would have gone if she hadn't been present. Klaus often tried to keep the violence of the supernatural world away from Caroline, similar to how Alaric wanted to protect the twins. Granted, Caroline was an adult who had chosen to immerse herself in the supernatural, while the twins had been born into it and had no choice, but Caroline knew from experience that there was no way to pick and choose elements of magic or immortality; taking the good and leaving the bad.

"You think I don't know that?" Alaric challenged. "My wife, the twins' mother, gave up her magic and lived as a normal human, and her family of witches still killed her. My first wife turned into a vampire and disappeared, only to show up again looking for Elena, then killed herself on your orders after she outlived her usefulness to you. You turned my girlfriend into a vampire for the sole purpose of killing her in your sacrifice, just to punish Elena for Damon freeing Caroline and Tyler—which I'm guessing you aren't too upset about now. I've suffered the consequences without enjoying any of the perks, so don't talk to me like I'm hiding from the supernatural world because I'm scared, or I just don't understand it."

"And you, don't talk to me like I can't snap you like a twig with one hand tied behind my back," Klaus replied in a dangerously quiet voice. "What's changed since the last time we spoke, then? When Caroline was kidnapped, by Esther, you were perfectly happy to hand the twins over to me and stay hidden in your house, out of danger. You recognized that the girls were an asset to our search, and you would have been a liability. Now you want to pretend that being human is such a gift and that my family and I are to blame for all of your problems?"

Now that Klaus had resorted to threats of physical violence, Caroline decided that she needed to step in, before this confrontation got even more out of control.

"Klaus, Ric, please calm down, both of you," Caroline interrupted. "This isn't helping anyone."

Klaus reluctantly released Alaric, who glared at Klaus once he was safely back on the ground.

"Look, all I'm saying, is that if I had known that Klaus's crazy mother, who turned me into an evil mutant vampire hunter, would find a way to come back from the dead again, I would have never would have told you that you could bring the girls here," Alaric said.

"You don't get to tell Caroline what to do," Klaus snapped.

"If she makes a decision that could potentially put my children in danger, I have the right to express my concerns," Alaric countered.

"Will both of you please stop?" Caroline pleaded. "Why are you being so antagonistic all of the sudden?"

"How are you so calm about this?" Alaric returned. "His mother might try to hurt the girls, and you're just all right with that?"

"Of course I'm not all right with that, but I've had more time to process than you have, and I know that arguing doesn't help keep the girls safe. We need to work together to defeat Esther," Caroline replied.

"Fine," Alaric relented with a sigh. "But I'm doing this for Josie and Lizzie, not for him."

Alaric shot a glare at Klaus, which Klaus returned.

Caroline let out a sigh of relief. Klaus and Alaric were both so important to the twins, and they both loved the little girls very much. They would both do anything to protect them and make them happy, including work together. Caroline knew that their animosity was also because of the twins: they each saw the other as competition for the girls' love. She could only hope that even though their alliance was forced now, they would eventually find common ground.

"What do you need me to do?" Alaric asked.

"Nothing special, really," Klaus answered dismissively. "Just don't take the girls outside if you can help it, don't talk to strangers, if anyone looks suspicious, they probably are, and if you see Esther, call us immediately."

Alaric turned to Caroline.

"How much of that is reasonable, and how much is a thousand years' worth of paranoia?" he asked her.

"I'll remember this moment when my 'paranoia' ensures that the children make it through this crisis alive," Klaus snapped.

"Yes, I'm sure you will claim your victory with grace," Alaric remarked.

"Just please be careful," Caroline added. "Esther really could be anywhere, and she always seems to be two steps ahead of us. Stay alert and vigilant, whether you're with the twins or not, until we find a way to send her back into The Void where she belongs."

"Okay," Alaric agreed. "Any further instructions, or can the girls and I finally leave now?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Caroline said.

"Sorry, Caroline, it's just that I only get so much time with them per week," Alaric explained.

"Of course, I understand," Caroline nodded.

"How long does it take them to say goodbye to what, eight people?" Alaric asked.

"Nine, actually, not including Caroline and I," Klaus corrected. "And at least one of the vampires is listening in on this conversation and keeping the twins distracted until we're finished, so that they don't overhear anything that might scare them."

"Oh," Alaric looked surprised by their consideration. "Well, I appreciate that."

"We aren't doing it for you, but you're welcome all the same," Klaus replied.

Having taken Klaus's explanation as their cue, whoever had been minding the twins sent them back out to the courtyard. The girls came running towards them, Lizzie hugging Klaus's legs and Josie hugging Caroline's. After a moment, they switched.

"Bye, Mommy!" the girls chorused.

"Bye, girls," Caroline replied. "Have fun, be good, I'll see you in a couple of days."

The twins nodded enthusiastically. They each gave their mother another hug, then moved over to Klaus.

"Bye, Klaus," Josie said.

"Bye, petal," Klaus replied. "I'll miss you."

"Petal?" Alaric asked Caroline quietly, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, Kol calls her Josie Posy, or even sometimes just Posy, and the flower thing just sort of stuck, and expanded to include rosy, rosebud, sweet pea, and petal," Caroline explained.

"Wow," Alaric said. "I wouldn't have thought that the Mikaelsons would be affectionate nickname people."

"They are," Caroline responded. "They really love the girls, and treat them with so much respect and affection. I wish that you both would make more of an effort to get to know each other. I think you might be pleasantly surprised by what you find."

Alaric didn't say anything in response.

Since Lizzie had said her goodbyes to Klaus while they were talking, the girls retrieved their bags and skipped back over to Alaric, ready to leave.

"Well, I guess I'll see you bright and early Monday morning," Alaric said.

"See you then," Caroline agreed.

Alaric shepherded the girls towards his car, parked on the street. Once they'd turned the corner, Caroline sat down on the edge of the planter where the twins had been waited for Alaric to arrive.

She felt Klaus sit down beside her.

"I know how much you hate it when the twins are with Alaric for the weekend," Klaus said.

"It's only fair, since they stay here with me the rest of the time," Caroline pointed out.

"That doesn't mean it hurts you any less," Klaus countered.

"You're right," Caroline sighed. "Why do you have to be right all of the time?"

Klaus chuckled.

"Not all the time, love, just when it comes to you," Klaus wrapped his arm around Caroline's shoulders. "When it comes to you, I am a most diligent student."

Caroline laughed a little in response to Klaus's attempt to cheer her up.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too," Klaus replied, pressing a kiss against her temple.

{ }

Only a few minutes after Alaric left with the twins, Klaus and Caroline were still sitting in the courtyard and heard a set of angry footsteps approaching the gate.

"Klaus!" a familiar voice yelled angrily.

"Great, that's exactly what I needed," Klaus said sarcastically.

Hayley stomped up to the gate, wearing a green military-style jacket, a plain white shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, and combat boots. Her face was set in an angry, determined expression.

"Klaus!" she yelled again.

"You can see that I'm right here, there's no need to shout," Klaus reprimanded.

"Where is Hope?" Hayley demanded.

She had approached the gate, but she didn't come inside. Klaus stood up and walked closer to her.

"She's inside, why do you ask?" Klaus replied.

"Don't play dumb with me, Klaus! I haven't seen my daughter in over a week!" Hayley exclaimed.

"How unfortunate for you," Klaus smirked.

"You can't keep my daughter from me with no explanation!" Hayley insisted.

"I have an explanation, I'm just not sure you deserve one," Klaus said. "But since you'll likely be quiet and go away faster if I tell you, with Esther at large it is safer for Hope to remain in the house. Traipsing through the bayou with you does not afford her the same level of protection as staying in a house full of Original vampires."

"Well, if Hope is staying here, then so am I!"

But Hayley made no move to pass through the gate.

Caroline did feel sorry for Hayley. She had said goodbye to her own children as they went to spend the weekend with their father, and she hated every second of it and missed them every second they were gone. But didn't anyone ever teach her that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?

"It's really your own fault, Hayley, that you can't be here with Hope," Klaus responded. "Your actions have consequences. You aren't supposed to like the consequences, otherwise they don't work as a deterrent."

"It has been weeks since I saw my daughter more than twice a week, because that's as often as you've given me permission to see her. You may not like it very much, but Hope is my child, Klaus. You can't just keep her away from me," Hayley said.

"Um, I'll just let you two talk," Caroline said, standing up.

"You don't have to go, love," Klaus said.

"If you don't mind staying, he might be more reasonable if you're here," Hayley added.

Caroline glanced at her, surprised. This was the first time that Hayley had ever even indirectly asked for Caroline's help. Caroline had never taken it personally, since Hayley seemed to avoid asking anyone for help.

"Okay," Caroline agreed uncertainly, sitting back down.

"Attempting to manipulate me won't win you any favors," Klaus warned.

"I wasn't—"

"Yes, you were," Klaus stated. "I understand why you did so. You are desperate, and you have very little in your arsenal. You are willing to do whatever you must in order to see Hope, and that includes taking advantage of my wish for Caroline to see me as a good man, and my reluctance to show her just how cruel I can be. But I warned you to never take advantage of Caroline's goodness to save yourself."

Both Hayley and Klaus looked at Caroline.

For Caroline, one of the strangest things about being with Klaus was the amount of power she suddenly wielded. She was used to the influence she had over Klaus himself, but though she flaunted her role as queen in front of Hayley, the position had taken some getting used to. Caroline knew that the respectful way that she was treated was not because of manners, or because of her role on the council, or because people were scared of her. It was because if you upset the queen, the king would come after you. No one got away with hurting Caroline; Klaus made sure of it.

But Caroline didn't feel like she was being used. This didn't feel like a scheme, it felt like a mother asking another mother for help. Klaus was right: Hayley was desperate, and she had very little that she could use to her advantage. She was taking the course of action most likely to achieve her goal of seeing her daughter: asking the queen for mercy, knowing that the king would give the queen anything she wanted because he wanted her to always be happy.

It was then that Caroline realized her relationship with Hayley had changed. When Hayley asked for her help for the first time, she didn't feel smug or proud or victorious.

She just felt sad.

She felt pity for Hayley, who had had bad things happen to her, and had made bad decisions that had brought bad things on herself. Her tough, tomboy persona had been carefully crafted to hide some serious insecurities. Hayley had shown herself to be aggressive, belligerent, stubborn, deceitful, selfish, rude, insensitive, and single-minded; but she had also been brave, strong, tough, determined, resourceful, strong-willed, protective, and tenacious. She was an ordinary person, with ordinary flaws, just trying to survive in a very extraordinary world.

Caroline wasn't sure exactly what had caused her change in attitude. Maybe it was time. Maybe it was sympathy. Maybe she had finally gotten to a place in her life where she felt that she had everything she wanted, and didn't need to be envious and jealous of other girls in her social circle.

Whatever it was, Caroline didn't feel the need to prove herself that she had just days earlier.

She felt free, like she was no longer being burdened by a weight that she had grown so accustomed to carrying that she hardly even noticed it anymore, and only in its absence did she truly realize how heavy and painful it was.

Hayley wasn't the Big Bad Wolf in her life anymore. She was someone whose presence, for various reasons, Caroline would have to tolerate.

Caroline had said before that she didn't want to compete with Hayley. She'd even meant it when she said it.

But thanks to her friendship with Elena, Caroline had long since adopted the attitude that everything was a competition, and that she was destined to lose to Elena before the race even started. And yes, she had been envious that Hayley was the mother of Klaus's daughter, but in spite of fathering a child with another woman, Klaus was the only man she'd ever had a relationship with that didn't make her feel like she had to compete for his affection.

Elena was in a coma.

Hayley had been banished to the bayou, separated from her daughter.

And Caroline was happy, and in love, and raising two beautiful daughters in a pretty mansion where she lived with her family who she loved.

She was the last one standing, the last of the Mystic Falls vampires.

Damon had said that she would never make it as a vampire. But she had made it.

Klaus may have hit and compelled him. Kol may have pummeled him with his baseball bat. Rebekah may have insulted and stolen from him. Katherine may have manipulated him. Bonnie may have cursed him.

But Caroline had gotten the best revenge against Damon herself.

She'd survived.

In the wake of all of that, she could afford to be generous.

"She isn't taking advantage of me; I'm offering to help," Caroline said.

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked.

Caroline nodded.

"I think she's been punished enough," Caroline said.

Klaus looked surprised, but nodded.

"You're very lucky that Caroline is so compassionate and forgiving," Klaus told Hayley.

Hayley didn't say anything to him.

"So, you'll help me?" Hayley asked, sounding more timid than Caroline had ever heard her.

"Yes, I will help you," Caroline answered.

She motioned for Hayley to come and sit down on her other side.

"So, let's start with each of your ideal scenarios, and then see if we can reach a compromise from there," Caroline suggested. "Hayley, you can go first, since you're the one asking for a change in Hope's living arrangements."

"I just want to be able to see my daughter," Hayley said. "I want to have some sort of schedule or something, so that I know that I'll be able to see her, and that whether or not I get to see her isn't dependent on Klaus's mood that day. I don't want to move back here—I like living in the bayou with Jackson and my wolf pack, and I finally feel like I'm where I belong, and I don't have to depend on my daughter's family to protect and support me—so I know I can't see her all the time like I used to. All I'm asking for is something that's fair and objective."

"Okay, and Klaus? Your ideal scenario?" Caroline prompted.

"Hope stays here, in her home, with her father, her sisters, her aunts and uncles," Klaus listed. "I have no objections to Hope seeing Hayley at a predetermined scheduled time every week. Perhaps they can meet for Sunday brunch."

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"That isn't fair and you know it," Caroline told him.

"You asked for my ideal scenario, my love, you didn't say that it had to be fair," Klaus pointed out.

"Then you can be the first to offer a compromise," Caroline said. "Hayley wants to be able to see Hope on a regular basis. How often do you think is reasonable for Hayley to be able to spend time with Hope?"

Klaus looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I don't want to say," he said finally.

"Why not?" Caroline asked exasperatedly.

"I'm not going to show my hand so early in the negotiating process," Klaus insisted. "I know that if I give Hayley an inch, she'll take a mile, and I will not let her take Hope."

"Can we just acknowledge that us sitting here and letting Caroline play divorce court is progress?" Hayley asked. "In the past, all of our arguments over Hope ended with one of us taking Hope away from the other, or we all lived under the same roof, which was so unhealthy."

"She has a point," Caroline interjected. "Though being a mediator for my boyfriend and his former one-night-stand who he got pregnant is a surreal experience."

"I prefer Hayley, actually," Hayley said, her mouth twisting into a grimace. "Or Hope's mother, or the queen of the Crescent Wolf Pack. I'd rather not have my entire existence reduced to the ten minutes it took to conceive Hope."

Caroline looked away.

"I'm sorry; you're right, there is so much more to you than that very brief encounter," Caroline apologized.

"Caroline, since you are the one moderating this negotiation, perhaps you could offer an impartial suggestion?" Klaus requested, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"The only experience I have with custody agreements is my own with Alaric…" Caroline demurred.

"Did you not just hear me say that all of our past custody agreements consisted of one of us stealing our daughter away from the other, or pretending that we could all live together somewhat peacefully, even though we clearly couldn't?" Hayley shook her head. "Anything you can think of is sure to be better than what we would come up with on our own."

"Well, then, what about something like mine and Alaric's agreement?" Caroline suggested. "Hayley can pick Hope up on Fridays and drop her back off on Monday morning like Alaric does? We can't divide a week exactly evenly, but three days there, four days here is pretty close."

"That's more time with Hope than I'm getting now," Hayley remarked. "If I agree to this, will this be a permanent routine? Klaus can't just decide to withhold Hope from me one week because he's mad?"

"You'll both agree to adhere to this schedule, with the exceptions of emergencies and special occasions, unless you both agree to negotiate a new arrangement," Caroline assured her.

"Then I agree," Hayley said. "This feels good for us. Healthy. Hope gets to see both her parents, and she doesn't have to see her parents alternate between fighting and pretending that they like each other and can get along for her sake. We can have our separate lives. I don't have to ignore my pack and my responsibilities to them to fit myself into the Mikaelson family and all of their never-ending drama."

Caroline and Hayley both turned to look at Klaus.

"I suppose it makes sense to coordinate the girls' schedules," Klaus admitted. "I would rather avoid having to spend the week alternating between Hope crying because she misses the twins and the twins crying because they miss Hope, if we can. And now that this deal is on the table, I can't imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to allow me to convince them to agree to a new deal that would be more in my favor. I will agree to this arrangement, starting from the time when Esther is defeated. Until then, Hope is safest here."

Hayley nodded.

"Hope's safety has always been my top priority. I think that our wolf pack can keep her safe, but this house is safer and easier to defend than the bayou. The wolves will all die to protect Hope, but since you all can't be killed…" Hayley trailed off.

"Then we are in agreement," Klaus stated.

"Yes," Hayley agreed. "But can I see her here in the meantime?"

"You may come visit with Hope on the days that she will spend with you," Klaus allowed. "And though I know that you would prefer not to, your room is still exactly as you left it, so if you would like to stay overnight on those days, you may."

"You're right, I would rather not sleep over, but thank you," Hayley responded. "Do you mind?" she asked, gesturing towards the house.

"By all means," Klaus answered.

Hayley ran into the house, throwing a quick, "Thank you, Caroline," over her shoulder as she went.

Caroline rested her head on Klaus's shoulder.

"That was remarkably civil," she commented. "I think I was a very successful mediator."

Klaus chuckled.

"I never meant to keep Hayley from Hope indefinitely," Klaus replied. "Just until she learned her lesson. You were always meant to be the deciding factor. Her punishment was only ever going to last until you said enough was enough."

"But you're okay with this?" Caroline confirmed.

"With Hayley's stubbornness, it was inevitable that she would get her way. And as infrequent as it is, she was right earlier. This arrangement does seem like the most fair and healthy outcome. Of course, I would like to have Hope here all the time, but I can admit when something I want isn't realistic."

"You can?" Caroline asked playfully.

Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Very funny," he replied. "Though there is just one question we have left to answer."

"What's that?"

"Whatever will we do with all of that time without the children in the house?" Klaus asked mischievously, picking Caroline up and carrying her inside the house.

{ }

Caroline was watching a recorded episode of one of her guilty pleasure reality television shows when she got the call.

"Hi, Ric, what's up?" she asked, surprised to see his name on her caller ID.

"Caroline, I think we're being followed," Alaric blurted out.

Caroline turned off the TV and sat up in bed.

"Okay, stay calm, tell me everything," Caroline requested, sounding calmer than she actually felt.

"Okay, I know that Klaus told me not to go out unless I had to, but I guess I was so busy grading papers this week that I didn't go grocery shopping, so I took the girls out to get lunch, since I figured that I was allowed to leave the house in the interest of not starving the children," Alaric said.

"Where did you go?" Caroline asked.

"Just to the grocery store," Alaric answered. "I'm calling you from the bathroom right now. Only a few minutes after we got here, I could feel someone watching me. I don't think the girls noticed anything, though."

"Did you get a good look at the person?" Caroline asked.

"Not really, I didn't want to tip her off that I knew she was following us," Alaric replied. "All I can tell you is that she had red hair, she was about your height, and she was wearing a black jacket."

Caroline's eyes went wide.

Genevieve.

Genevieve—a witch who was determined to kill Hope, and who probably wouldn't make any special effort not to harm the twins as she sought to accomplish her mission, but who would certainly add them to her list of targets if she found out that they were siphoners—was following Alaric and the twins.

Caroline couldn't think of anything they could do. Genevieve was a powerful witch who could stop all three of them in their tracks with very little effort. Alaric was a human, and therefore wouldn't be able to defend himself against her magic; and the twins couldn't do anything without exposing their abilities, which Caroline feared would lead to Genevieve killing them on the spot.

"Can you hang on for one second while I get Klaus? I know who's following you, but he knows her better, and he's better at scheming and strategizing than I am."

Alaric agreed, and Caroline quickly hopped off of her bed and ran out of her room.

She found Klaus in his art studio. He immediately set down his paintbrush when he saw the worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Klaus asked.

"Genevieve is following Alaric and the twins," Caroline told him.

"What part of don't leave the house unless absolutely necessary did he not understand?" Klaus demanded.

"Klaus, he went to get the girls food. It wasn't a pleasure trip," Caroline tried to calm him down.

She was terrified for the twins' safety as well, but she knew that getting angry at Alaric for inadvertently putting them in a situation where they would be in danger wouldn't help them. Sure, she would have been happier if Alaric had been prepared to take care of all of the girls' needs without leaving his house, but they didn't give him much time between their explanation of their conflict with Esther and Genevieve and when he left their house with Lizzie and Josie, and he certainly had no way of knowing that Genevieve would find and follow them on an innocent trip to the grocery store.

Klaus held out his hand for the phone. Caroline quickly handed it over, knowing time was of the essence.

"Alaric, I hear you've found yourself in quite the predicament," Klaus greeted with false, sarcastic cheer.

"I must be, since I'm talking to you," Alaric replied in the same tone.

"Considering you need my help, a little gratitude wouldn't be entirely out of order, mate," Klaus retorted.

"Fine. What do I need to do?" Alaric asked.

"Stay calm," Klaus instructed. "Finish your errand as if you don't know that you're being followed. Have the twins noticed anything?"

"No, they haven't."

"Good. We want it to stay that way. The calmer they are, the easier it will be to convince Genevieve that you haven't noticed her either," Klaus said.

"That's Genevieve? I thought she and Esther were focusing their attention on Hope, what does she want with me?" Alaric asked.

"I'm certain that she's been following you since you left the house with Lizzie and Josie," Klaus said. "Once you leave the store, you'll need to come back here. Genevieve will have followed you to your house, which means it isn't safe there anymore. She could break in at any time, if she hasn't already."

"I understand," Alaric sighed. "I'll see you in a few minutes then."

"Caroline, anything to add?" Klaus asked, handing her her phone back.

"Be careful," she pleaded. "See you soon."

"Okay, see you soon."

He hung up.

"Why is she doing this? What is she planning?" Caroline asked, not expecting an answer, but feeling the need to voice her questions out loud.

"Whatever it is, it isn't going to work," Klaus answered. "She's going after the twins to get to you, which she knows will get to me. But we'll keep them safe. We'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe."

Caroline nodded, stepping forward into Klaus's arms. She stood in his embrace for a few minutes, long enough to calm her racing heart slightly, before pulling away.

"We should go downstairs to meet them when they get back," Caroline said.

Klaus nodded and took her hand, leading her downstairs. By the time they got to the courtyard, Rebekah, Bonnie, Freya, and Elijah had joined them.

They only had to wait a few more minutes before Alaric haphazardly parallel parked his car in front of the house and he and the twins sprinted through the gate.

Caroline rushed forward to check on the girls, who looked no worse for wear after their adventure.

But Alaric's eyes were wild and his breathing was a little shallow. Caroline could hear his heart pounding at top speed.

"I think she poisoned me," Alaric blurted out.

{ }

"You think she did what?" Caroline asked, standing up and letting the twins run off to greet Rebekah, standing behind her.

"I was doing what Klaus told me to do, just finishing up the shopping trip as if I didn't know that I was being followed, when I felt this prick of a needle in the back of my neck as we turned a corner," Alaric explained.

"And you don't think that Genevieve was taking it into her own hands to make sure you got your flu shot this season," Caroline surmised.

"Witches generally prefer to use their own magic to commit murder, rather than resorting to external methods," Klaus pointed out.

"Do you have another theory?" Alaric challenged.

"Witches can do a number of spells, even innocuous ones like locator spells, that require the blood of the person they mean to enact the spell on," Elijah offered. "I find it more likely that Genevieve was taking a sample of your blood from you, rather than injecting something into your bloodstream."

"Give the thousand-year-old man a prize," a falsely cheerful voice sounded from the gate.

A red-haired woman who could only be Genevieve was standing in the middle of the gate that Alaric hadn't closed after himself, too concerned with his fear of impending death.

Though Caroline was shocked and terrified by Genevieve's casual intrusion, the only reaction any of the Mikaelsons showed in response to her arrival was a slight adjustment in positioning: Klaus stepped in front of Caroline, Rebekah gently nudged the twins behind her, Bonnie took a step forward.

"Go away, Genevieve," Klaus ordered, adopting a nonchalant, almost bored-sounding tone. "There are over a dozen of us, and only one of you. If you attack us, you will certainly die, and I thought you had better self-preservation instincts than that."

"Who said I was alone?" Genevieve asked with a sly smile.

"Um, the fact that no one is standing next to you?" Rebekah guessed.

Genevieve ignored Rebekah, instead walking closer to Klaus and Alaric.

"You know, I did my research on you," Genevieve told Alaric. "You're the father of these little witches that all of the Mikaelsons seem inordinately attached to, a professor at Tulane, and a former resident of good old Mystic Falls, Virginia."

Alaric kept his face impassive.

"Oh, right; you don't know where I'm going with this yet," Genevieve laughed softly. "I found out two very interesting things that happened to you in Mystic Falls, courtesy of the Mikaelsons."

It didn't bode well for them that Caroline wasn't sure which two things that any of the Mikaelsons had done that had negatively impacted Alaric that Genevieve was talking about.

"Esther," Genevieve pronounced the name with reverence. "Turned you into a super Original vampire, tasked with hunting vampires and only able to be killed in the event of the doppleganger's death. Now, you've since been cured of your vampirism, but there's an easy enough remedy for that."

Genevieve took another step forward, seeming to enjoy that everyone in the courtyard was watching her carefully.

"I also learned," Genevieve continued. "That you had been possessed by Nik when he first came to Mystic Falls to break his curse."

Alaric looked questioningly at Genevieve.

"Why did you want to know those things about me, and why are they relevant?" he asked.

"You'll see," Genevieve smiled. "Is that woman a friend of yours?"

Genevieve pointed to the gate, where Vincent's wife Eva was just approaching. She looked nervous, though Caroline wasn't sure if she had come to the house because of something that made her nervous, or if coming to the house made her nervous.

"Hi, Eva," Caroline greeted her. "Is something wrong?"

"Have you seen my husband?" Eva asked, wringing her hands. "Usually when he's out all afternoon it's because he and Marcel have come here, but he didn't tell me where he was going like he usually does when he leaves, so I worried that there might have been some sort of emergency that demanded his attention here right away."

"Vincent isn't here," Freya replied.

"And you have no idea where he might be?" Eva pressed.

Freya shook her head.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," she said apologetically.

"That's okay," Eva replied.

From there, several things happened very quickly.

Eva stepped further into the courtyard, chanting and holding her hands out in front of her.

Genevieve pulled out a knife.

Caroline moved towards Lizzie and Josie to take them inside, only to see that Rebekah, who had been standing closest to them, had beat her to it. She used her vampire speed, running in the direction of the dining room, where at least a few members of the Mikaelson family were still assembled, only to crash into an invisible barrier blocking them from entering. Rebekah quickly switched directions and ran towards the stairs, but found a similar barrier sealing off the stairs. Seeing no way to help the girls escape, Rebekah rejoined the group, setting the girls down and standing in front of them, adopting a defensive stance.

Eva stopped chanting, evidently having completed the spell to imprison them all in the courtyard.

Genevieve used the knife to make a quick slash across her palm, blood dripping onto the ground.

"Ouch!" Alaric complained, grabbing his own hand.

There was a cut on his hand identical to the one Genevieve had just made on her own hand.

"They're linked," Bonnie said. "That's what Genevieve took Alaric's blood for; it's a linking spell."

"Like the one your cousin put on Katherine and Elena?" Caroline asked.

"Exactly."

"Why are you doing this? How did you end up working with her?" Rebekah asked Eva.

Genevieve laughed.

"I spelled it all out for you and you still don't get it!" she exclaimed. "You didn't think Nik was the only Mikaelson with a penchant for body-hopping, did you?"

Esther.

Esther was possessing Eva.

Which would explain how she'd somehow disappeared without a trace. She must have taken possession of Eva's body as soon as she returned from Mystic Falls.

"Mother," Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah all spat out in unison, as if it was a dirty word.

"Hello, children," Esther replied.

"What do you want, Mother?" Klaus demanded.

"That's no way to talk to your mother," Esther responded. "And I want what I always want: to clean up the mess I made and rid the earth of you infernal blood-drinking creatures."

Esther raised her hand and Caroline knew that the witches' favorite way of retaliating against vampires was coming, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her eyes watered in pain as the aneurysm hit her the hardest. Every other vampire in the courtyard was an Original, who had a stronger resistance to this sort of spell. But what Esther was doing to them felt more intense than what other witches had done, probably because Esther was the Original Witch, and therefore more powerful, so much so that even the Originals were affected by the spell.

Before Caroline could even wonder what Esther and Genevieve planned to do to the witches with them, she saw Genevieve move out of the corner of her eye, as she darted over and pinched Bonnie's and then Freya's pressure points at their elbows, causing them both to collapse to the floor, unconscious.

She wasn't sure if the barrier—which was almost identical to the one Bonnie had used to trap Klaus in the Gilberts' living room—was soundproof, but she would have hoped that someone inside the house would have grown concerned when they hadn't come back yet.

Because Caroline remembered that Bonnie's barrier had kept Klaus in the living room—but it hadn't kept her out of it.

It was a struggle to hear or see anything through the agonizing pain in her head, but she managed to turn to face the dining room, where she saw Katherine and Kol approaching the barrier.

This barrier, unlike Bonnie's, evidently worked both ways, because Kol collided with the invisible wall and bounced off of it. After laughing at Kol's expense, Katherine held her hand out until she reached the barrier, her hand pressed against it.

"It's a shame," Esther said. "When I imagined my grandchildren, I pictured a whole flock of beautiful, golden-haired witches crowding around me as I taught them the art of magic, but all I ended up getting was a half-wolf abomination that violates every law of nature."

Klaus snarled and took a step forward.

"Careful," Esther warned. "Of course, there's also the other two, who aren't actually part of the family, but it seems like they might as well be for all the time they spend here with all of my children doting on them."

While everyone had been watching Esther, Genevieve had managed to sneak around and grab Lizzie and Josie from behind Rebekah.

Caroline screamed, but as she was still incapacitated, there was nothing else that she could do. She lurched forward and grabbed Klaus's hand, and said a silent plea to anyone who might be listening to keep her daughters safe.

Genevieve brought them back to where she was standing with Esther, so that all of them could see the girls trapped in her grip. She'd banded one arm around each twin, pinning their arms tightly against their bodies, holding them so tightly that they would certainly have bruises later.

"Now, tell me," Esther said. "What is so special about these little girls?"

No one said anything. Rebekah stepped forward and put her hand on Caroline's shoulder, trying to offer some small semblance of comfort.

"If you touch them, I will kill you," Klaus threatened through gritted teeth.

"You don't want to do that," Esther replied. "If you kill me now, this body dies, and I am set free, to find a new host or to return to my own body. And if you kill Genevieve, Alaric dies, and to save these poor girls only to leave them fatherless seems cruel."

Caroline couldn't think of a solution that wouldn't lead to one of the outcomes that Esther had listed and which they wanted to avoid, partly because of her lack of scheming and strategizing experience and partly because Esther's spell made it hard for her to think about anything other than the excruciating pain in her head. She knew that Klaus and Elijah were surely each weighing the pros and cons of a dozen potential plans in their heads, but Caroline couldn't see any possible way to ensure the twins' safety without also risking Alaric's.

There was no good course of action, one that would end with all of the good guys safe, happy, and victorious, and the bad guys defeated.

There were only plans that would lead to fewer casualties than others.

"Alaric," Klaus called.

Alaric, the only one who was neither unconscious, being held captive, or whose brain was literally exploding, easily took a few steps backwards to stand next to Klaus.

"I have a plan. I promise that you'll survive, but it involves taking a bit of a gamble," Klaus told him. "Do you trust me?"

Alaric was silent for a long moment.

Then: "Tell me the plan."

"You aren't going to like this, but it's the only way," Klaus said.

Then he bit into his wrist, letting his blood pool there for a second, and held his arm up near Alaric's face.

Alaric shook his head.

"I can't."

"What do you mean, 'you can't?'" Klaus demanded. "This is our best option! The odds are slim that Genevieve has vampire blood in her system, which means she'll die, you will live, and the twins will be safe. I know it's not ideal, and you'd rather not become a vampire, but I can't imagine that you'd prefer either dying yourself or letting the girls die."

"I mean, I can't become a vampire again!" Alaric exclaimed. "I didn't want to the first time either, but Esther made me complete the transition. I blamed vampires for everything that had gone wrong in my life, for everything that I had lost. I hunted vampires, and then I was forced to become one, and I was lucky enough to be cured of it, but I don't think I'll get that lucky again. I can't do it. There has to be another way."

Caroline respected Alaric's wishes, considering his past experiences both with vampires and with being a vampire. But this particular choice was hard for her to swallow. She watched as her daughters silently cried from their cage made of Genevieve's arms and wondered how much they understood of what was happening around them.

Alaric insisted that there was another way to ensure all of them survived, so she would just have to find it.

Genevieve laughed; a cold, cruel cackle.

She exchanged a knowing look with Esther.

"I would be very careful if I were you," Genevieve cautioned. "You don't know how long we've been planning this. You don't know if Esther managed to take some of the doppelganger's blood while she was in Mystic Falls, or even if we managed to take some blood from the other doppelganger before she became a vampire again. Have you drank anything that tasted a little off lately, Alaric? For all you know, the spell to turn you back into the indestructible vampire hunter is already in progress and just waiting for your death to complete it."

"Well, now I really can't become a vampire again," Alaric stated.

"She's bluffing," Klaus insisted.

"But what if she isn't?" Alaric challenged. "We can't take that risk, especially not if I transition in a house full of Original vampires. I could annihilate the entire vampire population without even passing through the gate."

Esther grinned, as if what Alaric proposed was what she was hoping for.

Someone who didn't know him well wouldn't have noticed the way that Klaus's face lit up minutely upon hearing Alaric's statement, but Caroline, Elijah, and Rebekah did.

They had another advantage: Esther didn't know that Klaus's sireline had been broken.

"Maybe I'm bluffing, maybe I'm not. But are you willing to risk the lives of these children, and every vampire the three of you have ever sired in order to find out?" Genevieve questioned.

Klaus let out a frustrated groan and took a step towards Genevieve.

"Don't come any closer," she threatened. "If you take another step, I will snap their necks. I won't even need to move my hands. Don't test me."

Klaus retreated.

In a voice so quiet only vampires would be able to hear it, Klaus started listing all that they knew and all of their options for the situation.

"We can't kill Esther, or she'll just find someone else's body to jump into, or she'll go back into her own. We can't kill Genevieve or she'll kill Lizzie and Josie. The twins can't use their powers on Genevieve, or she'll find out that they're siphoners and almost certainly kill them. We can't turn Alaric into a vampire, or we'll risk him turning into a mindless vampire-killing machine. We're trapped in the courtyard and everyone in the house is trapped inside."

"Correct," Elijah affirmed.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they tried to think of some inventive solution that hadn't occurred to them yet.

Caroline still couldn't think of anything.

"Klaus," Alaric broke the silence.

"Yes?"

"You know what you have to do."

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked.

Alaric nodded.

"I think we all know how this has to end. The only thing I get a say in is how long I let this drag on."

"Is there anything that you'd like to… I don't know, is there anything that you'd like to say?" Klaus asked.

That was when Caroline realized what Alaric planned to do.

"What? No, you can't!" she exclaimed.

"Caroline, I can't become that monster who hurt you again," Alaric sighed. "I can't risk hurting the girls like I hurt you."

"But you can't just give up!" Caroline insisted. "There has to be another way!"

She looked at Lizzie and Josie again, who were still crying, and felt her own eyes fill with tears.

In that moment, she wasn't in New Orleans anymore, she was in her childhood bedroom in Mystic Falls, watching as her father died rather than become a vampire, his own prejudice and hatred more important to him than remaining in his daughter's life.

 _'_ _You're strong, you're beautiful, you're good,'_ her father had said to her as he lay dying, offering her his twisted version of forgiveness for becoming what he saw as a monster who cheated death. But Caroline was tired of being strong, of being the one who suffered and survived, and picked up the pieces of what other people left broken. She had glued the pieces of her heart back together too many times to stand idly by and watch while someone pummeled it with a baseball bat.

"I won't let you do this, Ric," Caroline gritted out despite the splitting pain Esther was still making her feel. "I won't let you do to Lizzie and Josie what my father did to me. After you killed him."

Alaric at least had the grace to look guilty.

"I forgave you, for killing my father. I gave birth to your children, even after being impregnated without my knowledge or consent. I agreed to marry you, even though I've never had any romantic feelings for you, so that we wouldn't get dirty looks from small, judgmental people who didn't matter. You owe me. You can't quit on me now."

"I'm doing this for the girls, Caroline," Alaric implored. "We have a chance to literally cut the Mikaelsons' list of current enemies in half. I never wanted to be a vampire, but I would make that sacrifice if it meant that I could stay with the girls, but I can't without putting them, and you, in danger, and I can't do that to you. For all I know, I would get even more violent if I became that thing again. I tortured you, Caroline. What if I hurt the girls?"

"What you want to do will hurt the girls," Caroline retorted. "I am so tired of losing people, of being the person left behind who has to pick up the pieces, and plaster a smile on her face to fool everyone into thinking she's okay."

"And I'm sorry to put you in that position again, but I don't see any other options," Alaric said. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but it's the only choice that doesn't put the girls in danger."

"Caroline," Elijah interjected gently. "Alaric has made his choice, and you need to respect that."

Caroline felt Klaus squeeze her hand, as if trying to transfer some of his courage to her.

Then the voice echoing in her head changed. It was no longer her father's, it was his.

 _'_ _You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light.'_

Caroline took a deep breath. Klaus would help her through this, just as he'd helped her through everything else.

"Tick tock," Genevieve shouted. "Do something, or else I might just kill these two out of boredom!"

"I think that's our cue," Alaric remarked.

He put his hand on Caroline's shoulder.

"You know I'll love you forever for them, right?" he asked.

"I know," Caroline whispered tearfully.

"When they're old enough to understand, please tell them that I love them more than anything in the world, and that everything I did was to try to keep them safe and happy. Please tell them about Jo, about how wonderful she was, and how much I loved her, and how happy we were together. Tell them how special they are, and how proud I am of them, and that even though I never fit in to the supernatural world and I never really wanted to, I wholeheartedly support whatever they choose to do with their magic, whether they give it up and lead normal lives, or they keep practicing it," Alaric instructed.

"I will."

Alaric turned to Klaus.

"I'm just going to be stories, and old photographs and hazy memories to them," Alaric stated. "You're going to be the only father they'll ever know. You better be a damn good one."

Klaus just nodded, but he looked a little choked up.

"Okay," Alaric nodded.

"Be ready," Klaus told them.

Caroline wasn't sure what she was expecting to happen. She'd anticipated something anywhere from Klaus dramatically tearing Alaric's heart out and throwing it at Esther, taunting her with the knowledge that they'd outsmarted her, to Klaus snapping Alaric's neck where he stood to try to make the process as quick and painless as possible.

But in Alaric's final moments, Klaus made a generously kind gesture for Alaric, for Josie and Lizzie, for Caroline.

In a move Esther and Genevieve weren't expecting, Klaus grabbed Alaric and used his vampire speed to pull him across the courtyard and under the stairs, where they were invisible to everyone standing in the courtyard.

Caroline had watched her own father die. She'd seen the light leave his eyes, heard him take his last breath and his heart stutter to a stop.

Klaus had made sure that Lizzie and Josie didn't have to witness that.

Caroline didn't even know that it was over until she saw Genevieve's eyes roll back in her head, and her body start to fall.

Rebekah and Elijah rushed forward, each grabbing one of the twins before they hit the ground.

Esther gaped, wide-eyed, at Genevieve's dead body lying on the floor, and hurriedly rushed through the gate.

Klaus walked back over to them, alone.

And Caroline sank to the ground, allowing her tears to consume her.

* * *

Anyone else in tears?

I started crying once Alaric made the decision to sacrifice himself, and then I lost it and started full-on weeping when Alaric gave his final instructions to Caroline and Klaus. And from the time I decided that Alaric was going to die, I always planned for Klaus to make sure that Caroline and the twins wouldn't have to watch him die, and that idea always made me emotional. So, I actually started crying over this chapter about two months ago.

I personally feel that this outcome is a more satisfying ending for Alaric than whatever accident I could have come up with when readers first started asking for him to be killed off fifteen chapters ago (ouch, has it really been that long?). Also, since I named the story after a line from _A Tale of Two Cities_ , I wanted to write a tribute to Sidney Carton, i.e. someone sacrificing their own life in order to preserve the happiness and unity of someone they love and their loved ones. My twist on that situation in this story is that Alaric's sacrifice wasn't made out of romantic love like Sidney's was for Lucie, but out of parental, familial love for his daughters. And Esther never saw it coming, because while Alaric loves his children enough to die for them, she doesn't, and is in fact trying to kill her children and grandchild. Plus, I wanted to make sure that if I killed off a character, their death served a larger narrative purpose, so I hope that saving the twins' lives and killing Genevieve in the process is satisfactory.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	31. Chapter XXXI: Carry On, Carry On

Hi everyone! Thank you for 300 reviews and 200 favorites on this story! I'm still so thrilled to see every single one, and I'm so pleased that there are so many of you who enjoy this story!

Thank you for all of the reviews on the last chapter! I'm not happy that some of you were so sad after reading chapter thirty, but seeing some of the reviews include the sentiment of 'I don't really like Alaric but this chapter made me sad,' made me feel like I did at least a decent job writing the chapter to earn that emotional reaction from readers.

Also, I did not intend for Alaric's death last chapter to be so eerily similar to the deaths on last week's episode (no spoilers, in case some of you haven't seen it yet). Based on what I knew, I had anticipated the scene on the show to be much different (I never saw that first incredibly heartbreaking sacrifice coming—I can't believe the writers would have something so devastating happen to a character they always seemed to love).

But who else loves those Klaroline scenes?! And the love letter!? (:

This chapter was such a challenge for me to write, so I hope it's okay (and I apologize for the wait!). I've never actually been to a funeral (all of my family members who have passed away were cremated instead) so Alaric's funeral is based off of funerals I've seen on TV.

We also start to explore everyone's reactions to Alaric's death in this chapter, though obviously this will affect them for more than just a chapter. I'm not an expert in child psychology, but I think that at three, the twins are still too young to fully comprehend the idea of death, though they are certainly impacted by their father being gone.

This chapter also features another 'guest appearance' that I thought was necessary.

Chapter title comes from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Less than twenty days until the Klaroline baby! (:

Happy reading!

* * *

As soon as Esther fled, the barrier spell came down.

Katherine, Kol, Davina, and Finn came running into the courtyard as soon as the barrier fell.

Rebekah looked from Lizzie, crying in her arms, to Caroline, crying on the floor of the courtyard. She crouched down and put an arm around Caroline, still holding Lizzie on her hip, making herself the middle of a sandwich of crying blondes, trying to offer whatever little comfort she could.

Elijah looked at Klaus, who was looking at Caroline with utter desolation, at a complete loss for what to do to help her. He stepped closer to his brother, ready to offer counsel, then looked down and realized that he was still carrying one of the twins.

"Can someone please…?" he asked, holding the girl out towards the newcomers.

Finn stepped forward and took Josie from Elijah's hands. Only a few minutes passed before she settled herself and fell asleep against his shoulder with her arms crossed against her torso and her fists still loosely clenched.

Kol took it upon himself to carry Bonnie and then Freya, both of whom were still unconscious, to their beds.

"What happened here?" Katherine asked.

Elijah explained to her and all of the newcomers that Alaric had chosen to sacrifice his life to ensure that Genevieve did not harm Lizzie and Josie, and that Esther, who had managed to hide from all of them by possessing Eva, would not complete the spell that would turn him into an enhanced Original vampire again.

"And there was really no other way?" Davina asked.

"Anything else we could have done would have put the twins' lives in danger," Klaus answered. "And if we turned Alaric into a vampire, which he didn't want to do, it's possible he might have become an enhanced Original vampire hunter, which, in addition to this conflict with Esther, is a complication that would put all of us in mortal danger."

"Esther deliberately manipulated the situation to ensure that our forces were depleted," Elijah continued. "All evidence suggests that her intention was to target the twins, since so many of the possible outcomes ended with their deaths, with the goal, of course, of leaving Caroline inconsolable, causing her to blame and turn on Niklaus, who, given his own affection for the twins, would also be distraught. This would leave our entire family with wavering loyalties. Bonnie would side with Caroline, and likely so would Katerina. Rebekah would be torn between the love and loyalty she feels for both Niklaus and Caroline…this family would be divided, and it would be very simple for Esther to overpower any of us, or to manipulate us into confronting each other."

Lizzie covered her ears as Elijah spoke, and Caroline wanted to do the same.

"I know that that's your job and all, but could you please try to sound less like a general leading soldiers whose names he hasn't bothered to learn into battle? You're talking about your family, Elijah," Katherine interjected, and Caroline agreed wholeheartedly with her friend's objection.

But she was silent.

Something was stopping her from speaking, even as her tears quieted somewhat. She couldn't make herself speak, stand up, or even look at the people gathered around her.

She could feel Rebekah's arm around her, and Lizzie's trembling figure where her legs dangled across Rebekah's lap, but she couldn't bring herself to move or acknowledge them.

Caroline wasn't even sure why she was so anguished by Alaric's death. Though this didn't come close to the agony she had felt when her mother died, or the misery she'd experienced in the wake of her father's death, what she was feeling now was so extreme compared to her reactions to Stefan's death, or Tyler's.

Though none of it had been her choice, Alaric was the father of her children, and they had been an unconventional little family for a while. Her grief was coupled with guilt: if she'd never come to New Orleans, Alaric wouldn't have either, and he would still be alive.

"Should we, I don't know, move him?" Kol asked when he returned.

"We'll have to make arrangements," Klaus replied uncertainly. "Caroline, sweetheart, I know that you're sad and you're scared, but can you please tell me if Alaric has any other living relatives besides Lizzie and Josie?"

Klaus was trying to be considerate and accommodating, but his gentle tone actually just made Caroline feel worse. This was her job. None of the Originals could care less about Alaric, they only tolerated him because of the twins, but they were the ones talking about making funeral arrangements. He was her daughters' father, she should be the one responsible, yet she was huddled on the ground contributing nothing and letting everyone else pick up her slack.

She hadn't been able to make herself speak before. But Klaus would do anything for her, the least she could do was answer his question.

Caroline shook her head.

"Then there is no one to demand that he be buried in Mystic Falls, or anywhere else he might have lived?"

Caroline shook her head again.

"In that case, I think that we should arrange for him to be buried here in New Orleans. It will make it easier for the girls to visit his grave when they're older, and I don't really want to travel with the girls until Esther is taken care of," Klaus decided.

"I can do it," Caroline offered.

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked. "Someone else can take care of this and you won't have to worry about a thing."

Caroline shook her head.

"I need to do this," Caroline insisted. She didn't explain that she felt she needed to be the one to plan Alaric's funeral, to make sure that it was perfect, because she felt she owed it to him, because she felt guilty, because she blamed herself for Alaric's death. If she did, Klaus would try to comfort her and convince her that not only was this not her fault, but that nothing was ever her fault and she was perfect and the reason the sun rose every morning.

Eventually, she might want comfort. For now at least, she needed to wallow in her grief and guilt.

"Whatever you want," Klaus agreed.

"We should get the twins inside, they've had a long, exhausting, traumatic day," he continued.

Lizzie was still clinging to Rebekah, and Josie was still asleep in Finn's arms.

Caroline knew that they were sad, and scared, and tired. But she didn't know if they knew that their lives had changed forever.

{ }

Caroline spent most of Friday afternoon and Saturday making arrangements for Alaric's funeral, both over the phone and in person so she could use compulsion.

Normally she hated using compulsion, but desperate times called for desperate measure.

And planning a funeral for her children's father in less than forty-eight hours was a very desperate time.

Caroline was sitting at the dining room table, her cell phone in hand, with brainstorms and shopping lists and to-do lists spread out in front of her. Others had offered to help, but Caroline had refused every offer.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Klaus had given her his wallet and told her to take whatever she needed, which reduced the amount of compulsion she had to do to only the people and vendors who couldn't be convinced to comply with her demands using large amounts of money.

Throughout the day, various Mikaelsons had wandered into the dining room to check on her, or to get something to eat.

Klaus and Rebekah lingered the longest and came in without actually getting a blood bag on multiple occasions.

Rebekah was often accompanied by Lizzie, so she had also used the excuse that the little girl had wanted to see her mother, when Caroline was fairly certain that wasn't the case.

No one had known how the twins would react to Alaric's death.

Despite the amount of death that they had already experienced in their lives, they were still too young to really understand the concept of death, that their father was gone and he could never come back.

They hadn't even been born yet when their biological mother had died, so they hadn't mourned the loss of someone they had never known. Even though he intended to be their stepfather, the twins hadn't spent much time with Stefan, so they hadn't been heartbroken by his death either.

With no biological family left alive, the twins had learned at a very young age what Caroline had discovered when she was a few years older than they were: your family can include anyone who loves you, not just blood relations.

Within a few hours, it became clear that the twins had not reacted in any way that Caroline had expected them to. While the girls didn't seem to be upset with Klaus and Caroline, they weren't making any effort to interact with them either. In fact, they weren't really making any effort to interact with most of the family. The only person who they were maintaining their normal relationship with was Hope. Lizzie was clinging to Rebekah, who had been in the courtyard, and Josie was clinging to Finn, who hadn't. Josie was ignoring Elijah, but Lizzie wasn't.

Josie, the quieter of the twins, was withdrawn, and avoided speaking to anyone for the most part, though there was a bitterness in her silence towards Elijah that suggested that she was holding a grudge. Lizzie, her emotional girl, cried a lot, though Caroline wasn't certain if she understood enough about her father's death to be expressing her sadness over it, or if she was just picking up on the tense, subdued atmosphere in the house.

So every time Rebekah would bring Lizzie into the dining room, Caroline would smile and say hello, but she didn't want to push, or ask the dreaded 'how are you,' 'are you okay?' that she'd hated when her own father died.

To their credit, none of the Mikaelsons asked her how she was or if she was okay either, which Caroline especially appreciated because she didn't really know how she felt. She felt sadness and guilt and sympathy, on a constant loop and sometimes all at once.

Klaus had tried to comfort her, but when nothing he said could stop Caroline's tears, he fell victim to self-loathing, holing himself up in his art studio and convincing himself that Caroline wouldn't want to see him while she was grieving the loss of a loved one whose blood was technically on his hands.

Normally, the next person to try would have been Bonnie, but the witch was coping with her own grief over her friend.

Rebekah took it upon herself to make sure that Caroline was never alone, until Caroline had asked her to please give her some space.

Freya had decided that rather than try to help Caroline feel better, she would help by being useful so that Caroline could take all the time she needed to grieve. She'd tucked the twins into bed, and made them breakfast, and played with them, and distracted them, so that Caroline wouldn't have to worry about making sure that Lizzie and Josie had remembered to brush their teeth or that they had eaten a vegetable with their dinner.

Everyone one else had, for the most part, kept their distance, as was apparently the Mikaelsons' way of dealing with loss, or any strong emotions, really.

Her current method of dealing with her feelings was to keep herself busy planning Alaric's funeral, reverting to human Caroline's strategy of hiding her fears and insecurities behind a thick layer of positive productivity. Feelings of rejection, loneliness, and inadequacy were no match for the effort required to plan and oversee a school dance, a pageant, a fundraiser.

By the time she trudged up to bed on Friday night, Caroline had managed to commandeer a church in a nearby predominately human neighborhood, and arrange for Alaric to be buried in the church's cemetery.

On Saturday, Caroline, Rebekah, Freya, and Finn (without whom Josie would not leave the house) took the twins shopping for dresses to wear to the funeral, and Caroline, not certain if she had an appropriate dress, bought one for herself as well.

When they returned, Marcel and Josh were approaching the gate, each carrying a stack of cardboard boxes.

"What are you doing here?" Rebekah asked, not unkindly.

Marcel gestured to the boxes.

"Klaus called, asked if we would do him a favor," Marcel explained. "He sent us an address and told us to pack up the house. Once we were there, it became clear whose house it was. I guess he wasn't sure if you would be up for it, I'm sorry, Caroline."

"You didn't have to do this, I'm more than capable of picking up the twins' belongings from Alaric's house," Caroline insisted.

"I think that he didn't want you to have to do it," Marcel said.

"Well, still, I appreciate your help, even though it wasn't necessary. I can take those boxes, I'm sure you have better things to do with your Saturday than carry boxes all over creation," Caroline responded, holding her arms out for the pile of boxes Marcel was carrying.

"I'm happy to help, Caroline," Marcel told her. "You just lost someone you cared about, and your children just lost their father. It's okay to ask for help. No one is going to think less of you if you do, certainly not your family, and certainly not me. I've respected you since I met you, when you immediately stood up for the humans of the city, even though that wasn't a priority for anyone else. I don't think I've ever met anyone who has as much compassion and integrity as you do. Hope and I really won the stepmother lottery with you, and I want to be here for your little girls, even if all they ever need from me is just to talk to someone else who survived having Klaus Mikaelson as a parent."

Caroline felt herself start crying for what must have been the hundredth time that weekend. Several of the Mikaelsons had offered variations on the same idea: that they would all still love her and wouldn't think any less of her if she asked for help or took some time to mourn by herself. But even though she knew that, conceptually, it was different hearing it from someone who didn't love her and hadn't known her for years.

"Thank you, Marcel," Caroline said, offering him a watery but genuinely grateful smile. "Thank you both," Caroline elaborated to include Josh, who had remained silent since they'd arrived.

"Of course," Josh answered. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Caroline replied.

"Well, I'm sure you have a busy day ahead of you, so we'll get out of your hair," Marcel said.

"Oh, um, okay," Caroline stammered. "Well, thank you, again."

Marcel and Josh set their boxes down, Marcel making a gesture that looked like he was tipping an invisible hat to her as he backed away, which made Caroline smile, before they left.

"Klaus?" Caroline called as she walked into the house.

"Yes?" he answered, coming down the stairs.

"Thank you for asking Marcel to help pack up Alaric's house and bring the girls' things here," Caroline said.

"Well, I called him to inform him of the recent developments, namely Alaric's and Genevieve's deaths, and he asked if there was anything he could do to help," Klaus deflected.

Caroline leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek, then continued into the dining room to get back to work.

Late Saturday afternoon, Bonnie entered the dining room, walking through to the kitchen to take a pear from the fruit bowl before sitting next to Caroline.

"How are the arrangements coming along?" Bonnie asked.

"All right," Caroline sighed.

"That good, huh?" Bonnie remarked.

"I know that he doesn't have any living family besides the twins to do this instead, but I don't think I know him well enough to do this," Caroline confessed. "I mean, I gave birth to the man's children, but I haven't the slightest idea of what he would want engraved on his headstone, or what hymns he would want sung at the service."

"No one could pull this off except you," Bonnie replied. "Just go with your instincts."

Caroline thought for a moment.

"He'd want a wake," Caroline said.

"He would," Bonnie agreed with a wan smile.

"Then we are going to need bourbon."

{ }

That night, Caroline was going over all of the plans she'd made that day, transferring the appointment and delivery times she'd written in her notebook to her planner, which featured an hourly schedule for each day.

She'd managed to schedule everything so that she wouldn't be overwhelmed with several obligations at once, and had been preoccupied with making sure all of her commitments were recorded at the correct time that she didn't even notice the date until after she was finished.

"Klaus?" she called out.

Klaus came whooshing down the stairs immediately. He had been particularly solicitous all day, making sure that she was okay and asking if she needed help.

"Yes, my love?" Klaus asked when he entered the room.

"It's September," Caroline told him.

"It is," Klaus replied uncertainly.

"Hope should be in school, why isn't Hope in school?" Caroline demanded.

Klaus looked at her strangely.

"Because Esther is trying to kill her," Klaus answered. "She can't go to school while Esther is still out there. She needs to stay here where she has her family to protect her."

"But this isn't a 'my super special witch-werewolf hybrid child is too good for school' thing? You are going to send her to school? Because school is really important. Even after I became a vampire, I still finished school," Caroline said.

"Yes, Caroline, I will send Hope to school," Klaus assured her. "I will ensure that she graduates and even attends college. She needs to know her times tables and the causes of World War I just like any other child. All of her supernatural and magical education will be in addition to her regular schoolwork."

Caroline let out a sigh of relief.

"But what are you going to do about her starting late? Are you going to have her start next year and be a year older than all of her classmates?"

"I'll probably just compel the school to allow me to enroll her whenever we finally defeat Esther," Klaus explained. "And I'm sure there's nothing children learn in kindergarten that we can't teach Hope at home."

"Okay," Caroline agreed, turning back to her planner.

"But she missed the first day of school," Caroline blurted out. "The first day of school is important. I've been friends with Bonnie and Elena since my first day of school. If Hope starts late, the other kids will have already made friends and she'll be left out. And they'll all know the classroom procedures, and where the bathroom is, and when lunchtime is, and she won't know. Because they were there on the first day of school, when the teacher told them all the rules, and their parents were there, to help them put on their backpacks and take pictures and walk them to their classrooms. I mean, even the parents who worked, like my mom, took the morning off to come with me on my first day of school."

Caroline buried her head in her hands and started crying.

Klaus rushed across the room and sat down in the chair next to hers, pulling her into his lap.

"I'm sorry, Caroline," Klaus said, wrapping his arms around her tightly and kissing the top of her head.

"He's not going to be there for their first day of school," Caroline cried. "He's not going to see them graduate, or turn 16 or 18 or 21. He's not going to teach them how to drive, or wait up after their first date, or help them apply to college."

Klaus was silent, stroking her hair gently to try to comfort her.

"And I wanted you to be there for those things, too," Caroline insisted. "And I anticipated some discontent between the two of you, and I would have to play peacemaker, but I never wanted the twins to lose anyone else. It isn't that you aren't enough, it isn't like that at all, it's just that, isn't having more people who love you better than having fewer?"

"It will all be all right, Caroline," Klaus said.

Caroline looked up at him, removing her head from the comfort of his shoulder.

"No, it won't all be all right, because it's all my fault that Alaric is dead!" Caroline blurted out.

Klaus tightened his grip on Caroline.

"Alaric's death is not your fault. I never want to hear you blame yourself for it again, do you understand me?"

"But it is my fault!" Caroline exclaimed. "If I hadn't taken the twins to New Orleans, Alaric never would have moved here, and he would still be alive."

"Are you unfamiliar with the mortality rate of Mystic Falls?" Klaus asked facetiously. "Alaric is an adult and he made the decision to come here, just as he made the decision to sacrifice himself to save the twins. I personally would have taken the risk and turned into a vampire, but I couldn't have forced him to make that choice."

"Do you really think Genevieve was bluffing?" Caroline asked.

Klaus glanced away quickly.

"I think that it is entirely possible that she was," Klaus said carefully. "And it is entirely possible that she was not. Or perhaps they were plotting something even more devious. There's no way of knowing, and there's no point in torturing yourself over something you'll never know for sure."

"I suppose you're right," Caroline conceded.

"Think of it this way," Klaus said. "Even if Genevieve was bluffing and nothing would have happened if Alaric had chosen to turn, he wouldn't have been happy as a vampire. He was a vampire hunter, and he wanted a normal life that had nothing to do with the supernatural world. Now he's at peace, with his wife. And his other wife, and the girlfriend he had in between the two wives. Actually, now that I think about it, that doesn't sound peaceful at all…"

Caroline chuckled softly at Klaus's transparent attempt to make her laugh and take her mind off of her guilt and sadness.

"And I'm glad that he's at peace, I just wish that he was still alive for the girls' sakes. I mean, my dad was so staunchly anti-vampire that he refused to complete his transition, and he just abandoned me. Even if he said that he didn't hate me, he hated what I was. And he missed out on a lot of things that I wish he was there for: he never saw me graduate, he never met my daughters, and I really could have used his support when my mom was sick."

"As much as I hate that he caused you pain, I have to admire that your father had the courage of his convictions," Klaus pointed out. "Many people are willing to compromise their values in tough situations. It takes a lot of strength to be willing to die for what you believe in."

"You never even met my father," Caroline challenged. "You can't possibly know how courageous or principled or strong he was."

"No," Klaus shook his head. "But I know how courageous and principled and strong you are. Which is how I know that you'll get through this, no matter how scary and painful it seems now."

"Thank you," Caroline said.

"You're welcome," Klaus answered.

"Klaus?"

"Yes?"

"You'll come with me, on Josie and Lizzie's first day of school?" Caroline asked timidly.

"Of course I will."

{ }

It was the first time that Rebekah had dressed Lizzie in an outfit that wasn't pink.

The little blonde was wearing a long-sleeved black dress with the top part made of velvet, the skirt made of taffeta, and a silky ribbon dividing the two sections, along with black tights and black ballet flats decorated with little bows. The front section of her hair had been twisted away from her face and held in place with a black ribbon above her right ear.

Josie was wearing an identical dress, since none of them wanted to spend any more time than strictly necessary in the children's department picking out dresses for the twins to wear to their father's funeral. This dress was the first solid black dress they saw that had two left in a size four, so they bought them both and came home.

Normally, Caroline hated dressing the twins in the same clothes, but she figured that if there was a day to make an exception, it would be the day of their father's funeral. Today wasn't about the twins' individuality, it was about honoring their father's life and the great sacrifice he'd made for them.

And for the record, they didn't look identical. Josie was wearing her hair differently, with the top half tied back with a black ribbon, and she was wearing t-strap shoes instead of ballet flats like Lizzie's.

Caroline herself was wearing a knit black dress with a fluttery ruffle of black lace at the cuffs of her long sleeves and around the hem, black tights, and black lace-covered pumps, with a black-lace-covered headband placed in her blonde curls.

She'd woken up at sunrise and quickly showered, gotten dressed, applied a little makeup, and drank a bag of B positive, wanting to be completely ready herself before the girls woke up and needed to be fed and bathed and dressed.

She'd now been awake for hours and the rest of the family had started to wake up and start getting ready themselves.

Rebekah, still wearing a ruby red silk bathrobe, had offered to help Lizzie into her dress while Caroline tended to Josie. The twins were still at an age where they found tights uncomfortable and difficult to maneuver, so the two blonde vampires were met with squirming and a few quiet complaints when they tried to help the girls put them on.

Once the twins were dressed and fed, Caroline put on a movie for them, hoping to prevent tantrums or their dresses getting dirty and wrinkled while they waited for everyone else to get ready.

With Lizzie and Josie occupied upstairs, Caroline sat quietly in the dining room, her control freak tendencies urging her to position herself in a way that would allow her to check everyone's appearance before they left.

Even though the house was full of people, it was quiet.

Hayley had arrived an hour earlier to help Hope get dressed. She'd already been wearing her own funeral outfit, a plain black column dress with a square neckline and elbow length sleeves, sheer black tights, and Mary Janes with block heels and sturdy silver buckles. Hayley looked uncomfortable in her dress and heels, accustomed as she was to wearing skinny jeans and combat boots.

Hope emerged a few minutes later in an outfit almost identical to Hayley's, with a few exceptions: her Mary Janes were flat, her skirt was a little fuller, and while Hayley had left her dark hair down to frame both sides of her face, Hope's red hair had been pulled back into a neat ponytail and secured with the same black ribbon in each of the twins' hair.

Caroline was touched at Hayley's gesture towards solidarity, but when she thanked her after sending Hope to join the twins, Hayley insisted that she had nothing to do with it, it had been Hope's idea entirely.

Elijah was the next to enter the room, wearing his usual black suit and a black tie.

"Good morning," he said to Caroline, then nodded politely at Hayley, who returned the gesture.

Katherine followed soon after Elijah. Caroline was pleased to see that Katherine had selected the most conservative of her vast collection of black dresses so that she would be dressed appropriately for the occasion.

Caroline braced herself for an awkward or antagonistic exchange between Katherine and Hayley, but they ignored each other completely as Katherine greeted Elijah with a kiss and then helped herself to a cup of coffee, and Hayley looked down, playing with the engagement ring on her finger.

"Have you set a date?" Caroline asked quietly.

"April 15th," Hayley answered. "I wanted a spring wedding, spring in the bayou is really beautiful."

"What have you planned so far? Do you have a theme? Is Hope going to be flower girl?" Caroline asked.

Hayley seemed somewhat confused and surprised that Caroline seemed so interested, but still answered agreeably.

"I haven't exactly been planning my dream wedding since I was four like you have," Hayley said. "A lot of what I want for the wedding is just anything but what we had for the first one, which was in this house and focused more on the ritual to give the pack my hybrid powers than an actual wedding. And the theme was, like, plants. The only decorations we had were plants, and my dress had these 3-D flowers on it. I just want something more like a traditional human wedding than a werewolf ritual this time. We don't really have a theme, but we have thought about colors we want to use, and Hope is going to be in the wedding as a sort of flower girl/bridesmaid combination. We're going to go look for dresses as soon as it's safe to venture out into the city again."

"That sounds great," Caroline responded, sounding more enthusiastic than she had in days. "I'm envisioning a bold green—maybe emerald as a reference to your ring?—because that's your favorite color; white, of course, but make sure to choose shades with blue undertones, as opposed to yellow, to coordinate with the cool tones in the rest of your color palette; navy blue as your neutral to really ground the décor without letting it blend into the landscape; and silver to add that modern edge to keep everything from looking too rustic, which you said you're trying to avoid. The trick is going to be making your decorations and everything look modern, without looking out-of-place in the bayou. The atmosphere you're going for is 'look, we stumbled upon this perfect wedding while we were walking through the woods,' not 'this specific section of the bayou is being ruled by robots in the year 2468.' You're going to want to keep everything clean and simple: square tables with white tablecloths; relatively simple place settings, light fixtures, and flower arrangements; use the silver sparingly to add shine, not turn the place into a disco or some futuristic sci-fi movie; and avoid anything made of wood or lace. Also, you and Hope should look for dresses made of a satin or charmeuse—the subtle sheen in those fabrics, combined with the silver accents will give you that touch of glamour you're looking for."

Hayley looked stunned by Caroline's response.

"What is she rambling on about?" Rebekah asked as she walked into the room wearing a classy, fashion-forward black wrap dress.

"She's planning Hayley's wedding," Katherine offered.

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"That actually sounds really perfect, thank you," Hayley told Caroline.

"Of course," Caroline replied with a small smile. "I love event planning, and I planned my own wedding on really short notice, so I like to think I have enough experience to know what I'm doing. If you'd like my help with anything else, please let me know, I would be happy to contribute in whatever ways I can."

"Thank you, Caroline," Hayley repeated.

"Is Hayley bothering you, my love? Because I can tell her to leave," Klaus cut in as he entered the room. Like Elijah, he was wearing a black suit with a black tie; though unlike Elijah, he didn't look comfortable in the formal outfit.

"No, it's okay," Caroline said, the enthusiasm she'd shown while describing her ideas for Hayley's wedding quickly fading. "The girls are upstairs watching a movie, have you seen anyone else we're still waiting for?"

Klaus walked over to Caroline and loosely wrapped his arms around her waist.

"The service doesn't start for another two hours, everyone will be ready to leave long before it starts, I promise," Klaus said.

"I just want to make sure everything is perfect," Caroline insisted. "It's the least I can do for him."

"He made his choice," Klaus replied. "There was nothing you could have done to make that situation have a happier outcome. Esther manufactured the whole thing to make sure that something like this happened. I personally am just grateful that you and the girls were not harmed."

Caroline didn't respond. The momentarily happy distraction of helping Hayley hadn't been enough to make her forget about Alaric or completely alleviate her sadness over his death, but it had made her think about something other than her own grief and guilt for the first time in two days.

Bonnie came downstairs only a few minutes later, wearing very little makeup and already wiping her eyes.

"If Rebekah is ready already, then there's no reason why everyone else shouldn't be," Klaus remarked.

"Oh, shut it," Rebekah retorted.

Finn appeared shortly thereafter, wearing a suit almost identical to Klaus's.

"My apologies, I hadn't known that we were meeting here," he said.

Before anyone could tell him that it was fine, Freya came rushing into the room.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm here! I just had to struggle to get this dress on," Freya complained.

The dress in question laced up the back like a corset, and its bell sleeves certainly didn't help the wearer's dexterity.

Caroline remained quiet while they waited for Kol and Davina to get ready. She'd had a moment when she was able to distract herself with something that put her in a better mood, but as the time ticked by, it seemed that all she was able to think about was that she was about to attend the funeral for her teacher, her friend, her former fiancé and her daughters' father, through rather unusual circumstances. A person whom she had relied on, who was no longer there.

Once Kol and Davina finally came downstairs, once Caroline and Hayley had retrieved their daughters from upstairs, once they were all finally ready to leave the house, they made their way out of the dining room and into the courtyard, with Katherine and Elijah leading the way and Hayley and Hope bringing up the rear, through the courtyard.

The place where Alaric had died.

Caroline kept her eyes down until they'd passed through the gate.

{ }

The church was still relatively empty when they arrived, which was good news, since the Mikaelsons would need at least an entire pew for themselves.

Caroline had invited Alaric's colleagues from the university, but he hadn't had much time to make friends outside of work since he'd moved to New Orleans. Bonnie had called Damon, but he hadn't answered. Caroline had tried to contact anyone left from Mystic Falls who might have wanted to attend the funeral, but they either couldn't attend, or didn't even answer her call.

Ironically for someone who had spent years trying to keep his distance from the supernatural, the entire supernatural council of New Orleans was present. Marcel, Josh, and Vincent arrived only a few minutes after the Mikaelsons.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Vincent told Caroline, then looked down at the girls. "And I am so sorry for what Eva did while Esther was possessing her, and I wanted to let you know that Eva is herself again, she's at home resting."

"Thanks, Vincent, but no one blames Eva for anything," Caroline replied. "I'm glad she's back to being the only person in her own body, though."

Klaus took a step closer to Caroline, resting his hand on the small of her back.

"Sweetheart, we should get the girls seated," he reminded her.

"Right," Caroline agreed. "Thank you, for coming."

Vincent, Josh, and Marcel all nodded, then sat at the end of the second row of seating.

Caroline looked down at Josie, Lizzie, and Hope.

All three girls had joined hands when they stepped inside the church and showed no signs of being willing to let go.

"Do you mind, if we keep the three musketeers together?" Caroline asked Hayley.

"Go ahead," Hayley answered. "We'll be able to see her from here," she gestured to the row where Vincent, Josh, and Marcel were seated. She and Jackson, who had met them at the church, sat down on Marcel's other side.

Caroline sat down at the end of the pew closest to the aisle, taking Lizzie's hand and leading her to sit down next to her. Josie, who was holding Lizzie's hand, and Hope, who was holding Josie's hand, followed. Klaus sat next to his daughter, leaving Rebekah, Freya, Bonnie, and Elijah to fill in the rest of the row. Katherine, Kol, and Davina went to sit in the next row with the rest of the council.

Even once everyone arrived, the church wasn't completely full. With Damon unreachable, Elena in a coma, and Stefan dead, Alaric's social circle had been depleted.

"Caroline," a familiar voice greeted quietly from behind her.

Caroline quickly turned around.

"Jeremy?" Caroline exclaimed. "I can't believe you're here! I tried to call you, but I just got a message saying that your number had been disconnected."

"Sorry about that," Jeremy replied. "But you wouldn't believe how surprised I was when two hybrids tracked me down, told me Alaric was dead, and put me on a plane to New Orleans."

"Well, I'm glad that you're here to say goodbye," Caroline said.

Jeremy looked away from Caroline to see everyone else sitting in the pew. He made a face when he saw the Mikaelsons, but smiled at the twins.

"Hey, pretty girl," Jeremy said to Lizzie, who Caroline pulled into her lap so that Jeremy would have room to sit, while Klaus did the same with Hope.

"She looks like Alaric," Jeremy commented, patting Lizzie's dark gold hair. "Though she doesn't look out of place with you."

Jeremy turned to look at Josie.

"And this one looks like Jo," he continued, picking Josie up. "Hey, kiddo."

Caroline scooted down towards Klaus so that Jeremy could sit on the aisle. She'd assumed he would set Josie down between him and Caroline, but he settled her on his lap, where she immediately rejoined hands with her sister.

Only moments after Jeremy was seated, the pastor stepped forward to begin the service, and Caroline faced the front of the church for the first time since she sat down, having focused her attention on her daughters rather than her surroundings.

As the minister told them all that they would be comforted, Caroline's attention wavered from his words to the coffin behind him.

After careful consideration, Caroline had decided that the service should be open-casket. Since he had technically died of a broken neck, there were no injuries that needed to be kept hidden. As hard as it would be to see Alaric lying dead in his coffin, she wanted the twins to have the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to their father, and for them to understand that he really was gone and never coming back.

And the twins, though they were trying, weren't paying much attention to the funeral. They didn't seem to really understand what was happening, but at least they were being quiet.

The service dragged on so long that Caroline found herself hoping that the pastor would make eye contact with her at some point so that she could compel him to finish up. The girls were starting to fidget, she could hear Kol sighing behind her, and she knew that Alaric wouldn't have wanted them all to honor him by spending the day sitting in a church he'd never set foot inside, listening to a minister he'd never met recite a standard speech full of clichés he would have scoffed at.

Finally, the minister finished speaking and invited them all to say their final farewells to Alaric.

Caroline stood, flanked by Jeremy and Bonnie, and walked up to the front of the church.

Alaric looked peaceful in his coffin, as if he was just asleep. He'd been dressed in the dress shirt in his favorite shade of blue and navy trousers that Caroline had picked out for him to be buried in. He was holding two photographs in his hands: one of him and Jo at their wedding, the other of him holding the twins in the hospital just minutes after they were born.

"We need to say goodbye," Caroline told the twins.

"Goodbye," they both parroted immediately.

Lizzie reached out and touched her father's cheek, and immediately recoiled, not expecting his skin to be so cold. Sensing that she was about to start crying, Caroline pulled Lizzie off to the side so that she could calm down while others had their turn to say goodbye.

It only took a few minutes for everyone to pay their respects. Most of the people there didn't know Alaric very well, so they just nodded or offered a brief prayer.

When they went outside to the church's cemetery to lay Alaric to rest, Caroline allowed the twins to be the first to throw their tiny fistfuls of dirt onto the coffin, before she, Jeremy, and Bonnie tossed theirs.

Later, when Caroline started to walk away from the newly completed grave, she turned back around to appraise the headstone she'd ordered. His name and dates of birth and death were listed, and emblazoned under that were the words, 'Father, Teacher, Friend.'

{ }

Jeremy followed them home after Caroline invited him to the wake, though he warned them that he may not be able to stay the whole time, as he was flying back home that evening.

"I'll be right back, I want to get these two changed into play clothes before they find a way to get their dresses dirty," Caroline excused herself, heading up the stairs holding the twins' hands. Hayley quickly followed after her with Hope.

Hayley and Hope returned to the courtyard first, with Hope now wearing a green long-sleeved tee-shirt decorated with a green glitter star and matching white leggings patterned with green stars. When Caroline returned with the twins a few minutes later, Josie was wearing a butter yellow long-sleeved tee-shirt with a cartoon puppy on it and matching yellow and dark blue striped leggings, and Lizzie was wearing a grey long-sleeved tee-shirt with coral pink cuffs at the wrists and grey leggings with coral pink cuffs at the ankles.

"Actually," Caroline said. "I think these three might benefit from a nap."

"I think you might be right," Hayley agreed. "Come on, Hope."

Hope willingly took her mother's and stepfather's hands and allowed them to lead her out of the courtyard and upstairs to Hayley's room.

That was when Lizzie burst into tears.

Caroline immediately picked her up.

"Oh, Lizzie, honey," she soothed.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Lizzie wailed. "What if she's gone like Daddy?"

Lizzie had had similar reactions in the days following Alaric's death, crying and worrying whenever anyone left a room, but never one as extreme as her current tantrum. Caroline could only assume that her more dramatic reaction was because they'd just returned from Alaric's funeral, where she'd seen her father be laid to rest.

"Hope is going to be fine," Caroline reassured her. "She's just upstairs with her mom and her stepdad. They're going to take care of her. And they can turn into wolves, so they're stronger and scarier than anything that might try to hurt Hope, or any of us, okay?"

Lizzie rubbed her eyes with her little fists.

"Is Maleficent going to make me go in the ground, too?" Lizzie cried.

Klaus stepped forward and took Lizzie from Caroline.

"Now, Elizabeth," Klaus said in a very serious tone, even using Lizzie's full name to show her how serious he was. "Would I ever let anything happen to you, or your sisters, or your mother?"

Lizzie shook her head emphatically.

"So, then there's no reason for you to be scared," Klaus told her.

Lizzie appeared to consider this for a moment, then relaxed and rested her head on Klaus's shoulder.

"Now, you, young lady, need to go upstairs and take your nap, you've had a long day," Klaus said, then turned to Josie. "You too, my little rosebud. Come on."

Klaus led the twins upstairs, and returned a few minutes later.

"They're both fast asleep," he informed Caroline.

"Thanks," she replied. To everyone else, she said, "Sorry, about that. They're coping as best they can, considering what they understand at their age. Now let's get started."

She ran into the kitchen and retrieved two bottle of bourbon and enough glasses for everyone.

"There's more, don't worry," she said when a few people eyed the bourbon suspiciously.

"Now, this is for positive contributions only. We're sharing happy Alaric stories, or why we'll miss him, or any other related thoughts you may have to share. But if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

She passed out glasses and poured herself a drink before passing the bottle on to Klaus.

"I'll go first," Caroline offered. "Yesterday, I was sad thinking about all of the twins' milestones that Alaric will miss, so I decided to focus on the positive and think about all of the milestones he did get to see. He got to see them take their first steps, and hear them say their first words, and see them use their magic for the first time. And maybe that isn't enough, but it's something, and I know he's watching over them now. If it weren't for him and some very extraordinary circumstances, I wouldn't have children at all, so I'll always be grateful to him for allowing me the chance to be a mom to these two wonderful girls."

"I always imagined that you'd be a mom," Jeremy said. "And I knew you'd be a good mom. I thought that you would be the head of the PTA, and the booster club, and you'd go to every awards assembly and every game or performance, cheering your kids on louder than any of the other parents."

Caroline chuckled.

"Thanks, Jer."

"I knew Alaric would be a good dad, too, since he took care of Elena and me after Aunt Jenna was killed," Jeremy paused, taking a sip of his bourbon.

"You killed his brother; you aren't exactly the chief of the morality police," Caroline interjected. "And we're sharing happy memories about Alaric, remember?"

"I have one," Rebekah spoke up. "He was the first person to put you and me on the same side, remember that, Caroline? The first time we were civil to each other was when we were cleaning up that dance, and you offered your condolences about my mom, and I offered mine about Alaric. And then we had to work together to try to keep him from killing us."

"And then I had to go and drop my keys," Caroline lamented. "While you made a run for it."

"Caroline, darling, Nik might have loved you enough to risk being killed by the monster Esther created in Alaric's body, but I sure didn't," Rebekah retorted.

"Ric was someone I could count on," Bonnie said. "He felt like the lone adult in our group, the chaperone, the person we could rely on to be there for us. Most of us didn't have living parents, and those of us that did, we didn't live with them and couldn't count on them. Especially once he was the parent-like figure in Elena and Jeremy's lives, it was like he was the parent of the whole group."

"I only met the man once before he moved here," Kol started. "And he was trying to kill me. Now, for a human to try to kill me, requires a lot of guts, and I respect that in a human."

"I once forced Alaric to cooperate in a quite awkward situation that he did not want to participate in, but he managed it. I found him to be intelligent, well-read, trustworthy, and devoted to ensuring Elena's safety, not because she was the doppelganger, but because she was a person he cared about," Elijah offered.

Since no one else sitting in the courtyard had really gotten to know Alaric, that left Klaus as the last one to share a memory.

"As a father," Klaus started. "I can certainly appreciate Alaric's willingness to sacrifice himself for his children, as I would do the same. His loved ones can take comfort in the knowledge that he faced his death with courage and dignity, that he faced down an evil witch with immense power and refused to surrender.

"I propose a toast," Klaus raised his glass. "To Alaric, may his memory live on in each of us who has known him."

* * *

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	32. Chapter XXXII: Float Like a Feather

Hello lovely readers!

Thank you for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm still sorry for making you cry ):

Dear Guest, your concerns about Josie have been noted, but please rest assured that Klaus and Caroline love all of their children equally (and all of the Mikaelsons love all three girls equally, even if they have one the get along with better/have more in common with), and the idea of certain Mikaelsons having favorites and the girls' reactions to that will play a significant role as they learn about the Klaroline baby. Another sibling is really going to shake up the dynamics of this little family, and it will put Josie and Lizzie on more equal footing.

To readers who aren't quite certain why I'm writing the storylines that I am, please have a little patience, and hopefully everything will make sense to you soon enough (fingers crossed!).

This chapter's title comes from Radiohead's "Creep" (the lovely cover that's playing during Klaus and Caroline's scene in the car in episode six is by Ember Island).

Happy reading!

* * *

"We need to change our strategy," Klaus announced at breakfast a few days later.

Since the funeral, Esther had laid low, and so had the Mikaelsons. Caroline had been so preoccupied with taking care of the twins in the aftermath of Alaric's death that she didn't have the time or energy to wonder what Esther was plotting now.

"What are you talking about?" Katherine asked. "Caroline, what is he talking about?"

"How should I know?" Caroline responded.

"You're sleeping with him," Katherine pointed out.

"That doesn't mean I can read his mind," Caroline retorted. "You're sleeping with Elijah, can you read his mind?"

"This family needs boundaries," Rebekah sighed under her breath.

"No, I just thought he might have told you," Katherine answered, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. No, he hasn't. I am apparently so fragile, and so deep in mourning, I cannot be asked to do anything for myself, let alone hear strategy changes," Caroline replied.

For about an hour, Caroline had thought it was sweet that Klaus wanted to ensure that she could come to terms with Alaric's death without having to worry about any responsibilities. Then it had become annoying that Klaus was treating her like she was made of glass. Caroline loved that Klaus always treated her like she was precious to him, and that it was important to him that she was safe and happy, but he'd gone too far this time and was now treating her like she was too fragile to take care of herself or make her own decisions.

"What changes do you think we need to make to our strategy, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, ignoring Katherine and Caroline.

"Clearly, waiting to defend ourselves against any potential, upcoming attack Esther might make did not work. It is time for us to be the ones to attack her. She has lost her only ally, and she will not be expecting us to challenge her so soon after our last encounter," Klaus explained.

"Seriously?" Caroline asked incredulously.

"Do you have an objection?" Klaus asked.

"Lizzie cries when someone goes to the supermarket to buy milk for her breakfast, which is an errand I can reassure her you will come back from safely. How am I supposed to tell her that you've gone off to fight the evil witch who killed her father?" Caroline challenged.

Ever since they had returned from Alaric's funeral, Lizzie cried whenever anyone left her sight, worrying that they would be the next person to disappear from her life. She didn't have the same reaction if she was the one leaving a room, which Caroline was grateful for, because otherwise Lizzie would have refused to sleep in her own room.

"She's still asleep?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll talk to her when she wakes up," Klaus decided.

"You'll talk to her?" Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Klaus, she's three years old and she just lost her father. You can't reason with her."

"I also can't never leave the house because Lizzie will cry if I do," Klaus argued.

"I'm not saying you have to do that, I'm just saying, you can't expect her to just go back to normal just because you ask her to," Caroline said.

"We likely can't leave now and return before the girls wake up, but perhaps we can create a strategy today and seek Esther out tonight after they go to sleep," Elijah proposed.

"That would work," Klaus agreed. "And that means that we won't need to leave someone else behind with Caroline to help her take care of the girls."

"Not to be negative or borrow trouble here, but what if Esther sees you all leave and decides to attack us here? Then I'm the only one here to defend the girls, and I'm no match for the Original witch," Caroline pointed out.

"We should take the girls to the safehouse then," Klaus declared.

"Right, with the protective spells in place there, once we're inside, there's no way she can get in," Caroline added.

Elijah looked thoughtful.

"It's good, but it isn't good enough," he said. "We've managed to keep all three girls safe from physical harm so far with little effort. If we're going to be the ones attacking Esther this time, we need to do more than just hide them away for a night while we try to find her."

"I'm very, very uncomfortable with the idea of you using my children as bait, and I know Hayley would feel the same way," Caroline interjected.

"We would never do that, my love, of course not," Klaus reassured her. "What Elijah is saying is that we should try to find a way to use the children's absence to lure Esther out of hiding."

"And how is that different from using the children as bait?" Caroline demanded.

"We'll need to fool her..." Elijah stated, then lapsed into silence.

While he thought, Caroline looked around to try to gauge the reactions of the rest of the family.

Bonnie looked just as confused as Caroline felt, Freya offered a small, reassuring smile, Rebekah reached out and patted her shoulder, and Katherine just shrugged, while Kol had moved seats to join his brothers' plotting, and Finn and Davina continued to pointedly ignore them.

"We actually need to use someone as the bait," Elijah finally concluded.

"Explain," Klaus ordered.

"We need to do things today for our plan to attack Esther to work: we need to get Hope and the twins to safety, and we need to find Esther as quickly as possible," Elijah explained. "We can do both of these things easily if we can trick Esther into following who she thinks is the girls to a location that we have chosen and will be waiting for her."

Caroline had to give Elijah credit: it was a smart plan. But would Esther fall for it?

"That's cutting it rather close, brother," Klaus commented.

"Not really," Elijah answered. "Caroline will have snuck out with the girls hours earlier. That will be one of the more difficult elements of the plan. But once Caroline has arrived at the safehouse, the only remaining challenge will be to ensure that Esther falls for our ruse. Actually confronting her will be fairly straightforward, since there are so many of us against only her."

"And in addition to us, I'm sure that Marcel, Vincent, and Josh would help as well," Rebekah chimed in.

"As would Hayley and Jackson, who Esther would believe dislike the entire Mikaelson family and would only come here for Hope," Klaus added. "We should try to lure her here, to give us the home advantage and make her think that she's the one on the attack."

"Asking Hayley to come will help maintain the illusion, but what will make this evening different from other days when Hayley was in the house with Hope and Esther did not come?" Elijah wondered.

Klaus thought about it for a moment.

"If she thought that Hayley and Hope, or Hayley and Hope, and Caroline and the twins, were alone in the house," Klaus suggested. "If we were all to obviously leave the house and then sneak back in without her noticing, Esther wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to try to take Hope without the entire family protecting her, and we would have the element of surprise when she sees that we're all actually here."

"Well, what do we have to lose by trying this?" Kol asked. "Best case scenario, we can kill Esther without any of us, especially our little witches, getting hurt. Worst case scenario, Esther doesn't show up and we've wasted an evening. No harm done."

"I agree with Kol," Katherine added. "This sounds like a good idea, and we should do something, because anything is better than just sitting here and doing nothing, waiting for Esther to attack us again and wondering which one of us will be the next one to die."

"So now you're not even pretending to possess any tact? Good to know," Rebekah remarked.

"It wouldn't be believable if we all left at the same time, so we should start leaving the breadcrumbs soon," Klaus said. "Sweetheart, you'll probably want to start packing soon. Are you sure you'll be okay at the safehouse alone? We can probably spare—" Klaus scanned the table. "Katherine, or maybe Davina, if you don't feel comfortable going by yourself."

"Well, technically, I won't be by myself, I'll be with the girls," Caroline pointed out. "And once we get to the safehouse, we'll be fine because of the protective spells. I'm only worried about her ambushing us on the way, because I wouldn't be able to protect them by myself."

"Then some of us will escort you," Klaus declared. "Freya and Rebekah, you'll leave first. Go to the mall; a parking garage is a good place to throw off someone who might be tailing you, plus Esther wouldn't find it suspicious at all that you two were going shopping together. Then Caroline will leave a few minutes later, and I'll leave a few minutes after Caroline. We'll meet up in the parking garage and go to the safehouse from there."

"Okay," Caroline agreed. "I just have to get dressed, pack some clothes and things for the girls and I, wake the girls up, get them fed and dressed, but we should be ready to go in about an hour. I don't think I would feel comfortable leaving before Hayley got here anyway."

"I'll call her now," Klaus said.

"And I'll call Marcel," Rebekah offered.

When they pulled out their phones, Caroline ran upstairs to her room. She quickly pulled on black skinny jeans, a baby pink tee-shirt, a white Tulane University sweatshirt that Alaric had purchased from the college bookstore for her at her request, and black ankle boots. She swept her hair up into a neat ballerina bun and grabbed a pair of oversize sunglasses, wearing them as a headband while she was inside.

When she was finished, Caroline hurriedly threw some pajamas, undergarments, toiletries, and a few changes of clothes into a bag.

Then she ran into the twins' room.

"Girls, wake up," Caroline called out, already moving to their closet. She pulled out a half dozen pairs of jeans in different washes, shirts in pink or yellow depending on which twin they were for, a set of pajamas for each girl, and enough undergarments and toiletries to last them a week and threw all of it into another bag she found at the bottom of their closet.

"Get dressed and come downstairs to eat breakfast," Caroline ordered the sleepy girls, both sitting up in bed and rubbing their eyes. "I have to go wake up Hope."

Throwing the twins' bag over her shoulder with her own, Caroline rushed down the hall to Hope's room.

"Hope, it's time to wake up," Caroline told her. "You need to get dressed and come downstairs."

Caroline repeated the packing process for a third time with Hope's necessities, then gathered all of their bags and left the room.

As soon as she stepped into the dining room, she could feel Rebekah and Katherine appraising her outfit.

"I'm trying to be inconspicuous," Caroline said.

"Why do you even possess an article of clothing that plain and unflattering?" Katherine demanded.

"Alaric bought this for me on his first day on campus," Caroline answered. "He said it was the only one in the bookstore that didn't have any green on it," she said, tracing the grey letters that spelled out the school's name.

No one responded.

Hayley walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, wearing olive green skinny jeans, a short-sleeve top with an olive green and grey geometric pattern, and combat boots. Jackson followed closely behind her, dressed in an olive green tee-shirt and jeans.

"I know that this is a serious mission and all, but can I just say how much I love that you two always coordinate your outfits?" Caroline commented. "I mean, it's probably in large part because you both have the same favorite color, but still, it's really cute. Why don't we coordinate our outfits?" she asked Klaus.

Klaus looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon. Rebekah chuckled in response, before gathering her purse and following Freya out of the house.

"Um, thanks, Caroline," Hayley replied uncertainly. "Is Hope ready?"

"She was getting dressed when I left her room," Caroline answered.

Hope ran down the stairs and skidded to a stop just inside the door a moment later, as if talking about her had summoned her.

Noticing that Hope was also wearing a green shirt, Caroline sighed, "All three of you coordinate your outfits and you just look like the cutest little family and it makes me feel like I don't have my life together."

Caroline was only able to hold back her tears because Lizzie and Josie ran into the room at the moment, and she didn't want them to see her crying.

While the girls ate a quick breakfast and Klaus and Bonnie tried to explain the plan in a child-friendly way, Caroline brought all of their bags to the car that Klaus was letting her use. It wasn't an SUV, but it was big enough for all of the girls to sit together in the back seat and for all of their bags to fit in the trunk. He said that he didn't use the car often, which would hopefully prevent Esther from recognizing it as Klaus's.

"All right, everyone here under the age of six, you're coming with me," Caroline announced.

All three girls hopped out of the chairs and followed her obediently.

Hayley stopped Hope before she could leave.

"Be good for Caroline, okay?" Hayley told her.

Hope nodded, and Hope and Hayley did their secret handshake, then Hayley and Jackson each hugged Hope.

Hope made another stop to hug Klaus, then rejoined Caroline and the twins.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Caroline said. "Be careful, and good luck."

{ }

Rebekah and Freya were leaning against the side of their car when Caroline arrived at the mall's parking garage.

After carefully scanning the parking garage, Caroline determined that it was safe to park next to them.

"Team Barbie, assemble!" Caroline cheered as she exited the car.

Freya and Rebekah laughed.

"Are you ready for this?" Freya asked sincerely.

"I don't really have much choice, now do I?" Caroline replied. "And considering I wouldn't be any good in a fight, this is the best part for me to play in this plan."

"We just meant, are you sure that you're emotionally ready to jump back into the supernatural skirmishes of the Mikaelson family?" Rebekah asked. "Because you started crying over Hayley and Jackson both wearing green shirts less than an hour ago."

"They're always matching and it makes them look like a team, and I think that's really nice," Caroline explained.

"Caroline," Rebekah raised her eyebrows.

"I'm fine!" Caroline insisted. "I've just been a little more emotional lately, which I don't think is unreasonable, all things considered. This is good for me. Like Katherine said, doing something is better than just waiting for something to happen. I packed movies for the girls to watch during the car ride, and board games for them to play at the safehouse, and then they'll probably be asleep before your fight with Esther. Whatever happens, in less than twenty-four hours, it will all be over."

Freya and Rebekah didn't look convinced, but before they could answer, Klaus arrived. He parked his car near theirs' and walked over to them.

"Are you all ready to go?" Klaus asked.

All three of them answered, "yes," at slightly different times.

Rebekah and Freya must have picked up on some unspoken cue from Klaus, because they both got back into their car, leaving Klaus and Caroline alone.

"Are you sure you feel up to doing this?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Caroline answered. "I am happy to play my part to help defeat Esther and keep the girls safe."

"Good," Klaus replied. "And we don't even need matching shirts to let everyone know that we're on the same team."

"No one is ever going to let me forget that I commented on that, are they?" Caroline asked.

"Probably not," Klaus answered. "But if it would really make you happy, I will consider wearing the same color as you."

Caroline laughed.

"You'll need this," Klaus told her, pressing the key to the safehouse into her hand.

"Thank you," Caroline replied.

"I just have to say goodbye to the girls, and then we can get going," Klaus said.

He opened the passenger door of Caroline's car and sat down facing the backseat.

"This trip is very important, so I need all three of you to be the little angels I know you are, understood?" Klaus asked.

All three girls nodded.

"You're going to come back home tomorrow, so I will see you then, okay?"

All three girls nodded again.

"I love you, and I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe," Klaus told them, then opened the door to leave the car.

Lizzie, of course, immediately started crying.

Klaus cringed, but got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.

"As soon as you get in the car, Rebekah and Freya are going to leave. Wait one minute and then follow them. I'm going to follow you." Klaus said.

"I know," Caroline replied.

"Be careful," Klaus told Caroline, taking her hands. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to me, I'll be careful," Caroline said.

Klaus let go of one of Caroline's hands to hold her face and stroke her cheekbone with his thumb.

"I love you, more than you'll ever know," Klaus whispered.

"I love you, too," Caroline whispered back.

Knowing that they couldn't dawdle, Klaus quickly wrapped Caroline in a tight embrace and kissed her goodbye.

Then he tore himself away and got back into his car.

Caroline stood, stunned, for only a second before getting into her own car, looking over and catching Rebekah's eye as the other vampire backed out of the parking space and drove towards the exit.

As instructed, Caroline counted to sixty before following.

"Are you ready, girls? We're on our way!" Caroline cheered, hoping her enthusiastic tone would convince the girls they were going on an adventure, rather than going into hiding.

As they drove down the main road, Caroline could see Klaus's car in her rearview mirror, and made sure to keep track of Rebekah and Freya's car ahead of her.

Caroline instructed the girls to choose from the selection of movies she'd brought along to entertain them during the car ride. A few minutes later, all three of them were happily singing along to _Frozen_ , without a care in the world.

Caroline's vampire senses were working on overdrive, on the lookout for any sign of Esther. She didn't see anything, but she was glad that Rebekah, Freya, and Klaus were all watching as well in case she missed anything.

After about half an hour of driving, Caroline's phone rang. She spared a quick glance at the caller ID, just long enough to see that it was Klaus calling.

Caroline sighed. "I'm driving, and he knows I'm driving."

She grabbed the phone, answered the call, then reached back towards Hope, sitting in the seat behind hers.

"Here, talk to your dad."

A small hand grabbed the phone.

"Hi, Klaus," Lizzie said.

Caroline glanced in her rearview mirror and saw that Hope had fallen asleep against her window, and Lizzie, who'd been sitting in the middle seat because she was the smallest, had taken the phone.

"Mommy doesn't like to talk on the phone while she's driving," Lizzie told Klaus. "She'll do it sometimes, but she said we had to be quiet because she has to concentrate," Lizzie stumbled over the word. "We're watching _Frozen_. You just missed "Let it Go."

Caroline heard Klaus chuckle over the phone.

"Sweetheart, will you please tell your mother that there's no sign of Esther, and ask if she would still like us to accompany you the rest of the way to the safehouse?" Klaus asked.

With her vampire hearing, Caroline heard every word and Klaus knew it, but she thought it was sweet that he was trying to make Lizzie feel helpful.

"Mommy, Klaus says that there's no sign of Esther, and he wants to know if you want him to company us the rest of the way," Lizzie recited.

Caroline smiled at Lizzie's confusion over the word "accompany."

"Tell him yes, please," Caroline instructed.

"Mommy says yes please," Lizzie relayed the message.

"Okay," Klaus replied. "Then I'll see you soon, sweetheart. I love you."

"I love you, bye Klaus!" Lizzie responded.

"Here, Mommy," Lizzie held out the phone, which Caroline quickly took from her.

"Thank you, sweetie," Caroline said.

With Klaus certain that Esther wasn't following them, Caroline allowed herself to relax ever-so-slightly for the rest of the trip. She let the girls sing along with their movie a little louder, and played "I Spy" with them when the movie was over.

By noon, they had arrived at the safehouse. Caroline parked in the detached garage, while Rebekah and Klaus both parked in the long driveway. Caroline gathered all of the girls and all of their bags, then led them to the front door of the house.

Caroline unlocked the front door and ushered the girls inside. When she turned around, Klaus, Rebekah, and Freya were standing on the porch.

"Are you just going to turn around and go back home now?" Caroline asked.

"We don't know for sure when Esther might show up, so we all need to leave and come back as quickly as possible," Rebekah explained.

"Well, good luck with everything. Please be careful," Caroline told them.

"Like you said, it will all be over in less than twenty-four hours," Freya said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to the girls, Rebekah and Freya got back in their car and drove away.

"I should go, too," Klaus said.

"Please be careful," Caroline pleaded, taking his hands. "I can't lose you. It would destroy me."

"There isn't a force on this Earth strong enough to tear me away from you," Klaus smiled softly. "Hopefully by the time you return to New Orleans tomorrow, I will have rid the city of the last person who would wish to do you and our girls harm."

Klaus kissed the back of Caroline's hand and backed away.

Caroline waited until he'd gotten back in his car and driven away before going inside.

{ }

There was nothing they could do but wait.

Whatever happened that night, it would happen miles away in New Orleans. There was no point in speculating what Esther would do or what the Mikaelsons would do in response.

That didn't stop Caroline from worrying.

She let the girls choose the rooms they wanted to sleep in that night. Hope, of course, chose her own room, while Josie picked the guest room they had stayed in last time they were in the safehouse, Lizzie selected Rebekah's room, and Caroline decided to use Freya's room.

The girls decided to have a pillow fight in Josie's room before Caroline could stop them, dissolving into fits of giggles when the pillow Hope was using split open and spilled feathers everywhere.

Caroline then led them downstairs at set up a movie for them, hoping to postpone any activity that would require her undivided attention, since she was too worried about the situation back home to fully devote herself to whatever games the girls would want to play.

With the exception of the girls, everyone that Caroline loved was at home, preparing for battle against an evil, immensely powerful witch who wished them dead. With that weighing on her mind, how could she possibly be expected to care about the rules of a children's board game?

After three rounds of Sorry in which Caroline frequently forgot that the blue movers were hers, that it was her turn, and the rules and objections of the game, the girls forbid her from playing with them anymore.

Caroline checked her phone every few minutes, even knowing full well that if they were in the middle of a fight with Esther, none of her family would be able to stop to text her with an update.

Caroline absentmindedly made them dinner, and after they ate, they moved into the living room.

Caroline gave each of the girls some crayons and paper to color, then returned to staring at her phone, just in case it rang.

"Mommy, look what I can do!" Josie squealed.

Caroline looked up to see Josie making a handful of feathers from the pillow that had broken open earlier float above the girls' heads. Lizzie and Hope were watching the floating feathers in awe, while Josie looked up at her with a triumphant smile.

She'd wondered, in the past, about the parallels between Lizzie, Josie, and Hope, and herself, Bonnie, and Elena, and it seemed she now had her answer.

Like Elena, Hope was special and unique within the supernatural community, but they had little in common when it came to their personalities. Even as young as she was, Hope was already brave, determined, and independent like her mother, and stubborn, persistent, and driven as the rest of the Mikaelsons. In contrast, Elena was emotional, selfless, idealistic, adaptable, passive, and indecisive.

Josie's passion and dedication to her magic reminded Caroline of Bonnie. Caroline had been impressed by how seriously Josie took her magic, and how she wasn't scared of the power she possessed, yet recognized that it needed to be used properly. And like Bonnie, Josie saw helping her family and friends as a 'proper' use of magic.

And Lizzie was the most like Caroline herself. Over the years, Caroline had come to terms with the fact that she wasn't the smartest or the most special, but she did have a good heart and would do anything to help the people she loved. She may never have been the star of the show, but she was the cheerleader and loyal friend. And that was good enough for her, and Caroline would be sure to teach Lizzie, and Josie, that whoever they were was good enough for her, too.

"That's fantastic, Josie!" Caroline answered.

She recalled sitting on Elena's bed, years ago, watching Bonnie show off the same trick with the same rapt attention that Lizzie and Hope were giving Josie now.

Caroline picked up her phone and took a short video of Josie's spell in action and sent it to Bonnie with the caption, " _Remind you of anything?_ "

She didn't expect a response, but only a few minutes later, Bonnie sent a reply.

' _Oh my goodness! Give my love to our baby alter egos!_ '

"Auntie Bonnie would be so proud of you! She sends her love to all of you," Caroline said.

Josie smiled.

"Do you want to try?" Josie asked the other two witches, letting the feathers fall back onto the table.

Lizzie held her hands out, mimicking the way Josie had. Caroline started recording again so that if Lizzie successfully did the spell, she would have it on video.

Nothing happened.

"You have to just let the magic come out of your hands," Josie instructed, sounding like she was parroting Freya or Bonnie. "Don't be scared, Lizzie."

Lizzie took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and raised her hands again.

And the feathers levitated ever so slightly, hovering a few inches above the table. It wasn't as impressive as what Josie or Bonnie had been able to do, but it was progress.

"That was wonderful, Lizzie!" Caroline praised.

"Let me try," Hope said.

She held her hands out, as if she pushing on some invisible barrier in front of her.

Nothing happened.

"You have to just let the magic come out of your hands," Josie repeated. "You can't force it out."

Hope tried to relax, then tried again.

And pushed the feathers up to the ceiling.

All three girls giggled.

"She doesn't even know her own strength," Caroline remarked from behind her cell phone camera. She ended the video.

"Okay, my three little bears, it's time for you to get ready for bed, and if you move quickly, you might have time for another game before bed."

The girls rushed off to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth.

Caroline checked her messages again, not expecting to see anything.

With no new notifications, Caroline sighed and locked her phone, setting her phone down and listening to the girls rummaging through the bags for their pajamas.

Then Caroline's phone vibrated with a new text message—from Klaus.

' _She's here._ '

{ }

There was nothing they could do but wait.

Either Esther would fall for the trap they had set or she wouldn't.

They'd spent the afternoon leaving breadcrumbs: they'd all made a show of leaving the house, then surreptitiously sneaking back in. Hayley and Jackson had had to sneak out of the house, then make a show of arriving hours later.

With the exception of Hayley and Jackson, who were in Hope's room, they were all hiding in the attic: where Esther wouldn't be able to see them until they wanted her to, but they could hear her arrival.

After spending hours waiting in the room that was far too small to contain all twelve of them, all of the Mikaelsons and their friends were hoping that Esther would arrive soon just so that they could go downstairs.

At one point, Bonnie chuckled softly at something on her phone. She passed the phone over to Klaus, and he soon found himself smiling at the video Caroline had taken of Hope, Lizzie, and Josie having fun practicing their magic.

Suddenly, it didn't matter so much that he was cramped and uncomfortable hiding in his attic with eleven other people, waiting for his mother to arrive to make an attempt to kill his daughter. Everything that mattered to him, everyone that he was fighting for, was safely out of the city and away from danger. They were worth fighting for whenever Esther decided to show up.

It wasn't long after sunset that they heard her footsteps approach the stairs.

Klaus sent Caroline a quick message confirming that their plan had worked.

Her reply was immediate.

' _Please be careful. We love you._ '

' _It's all for you,_ ' Klaus typed quickly.

He pocketed his phone when he heard Esther walking across the hallway, opening each door to look for Hope.

"Hayley," Esther greeted when she found Hope's room.

That was the cue they had been waiting for. They made their way silently from the attic, downstairs into the hallway.

"Esther," Hayley returned icily.

"Where is Hope?" Esther asked.

"She isn't here," Hayley answered.

"It seems you've wasted a trip," Klaus announced his presence. "Hello, Esther."

"My children," Esther responded, seeing all of them assembled behind Klaus. "You've hidden the abomination from me, but that doesn't matter. I will find her, and I will ensure that she can never fulfill the prophecy that foretells the destruction of the supernatural world as we now it at her hands."

"Actually, that reminds me of a very important, related point," Hayley cut in.

Esther turned to face her at the same time that Hayley took a step forward so that she was only an arm's length away from Esther.

And then Hayley punched Esther straight in the nose.

"That's for trying to kill my baby, you monster," Hayley growled.

They had all agreed to let Hayley throw the first punch, knowing that she had some unresolved anger towards Esther from both times Esther had plotted to kill Hope, but they hadn't anticipated her taking the figure of speech literally.

While Esther recovered, Freya immediately got to work chanting under her breath. Freya's only request for her part of the plan was that the rest of them continually made enough noise that Esther wouldn't be able to hear what she was doing.

At the same time, Hayley and Jackson took advantage of Esther's distraction to shift into their wolf forms.

Bonnie started muttering the words of a spell, partly for the practical purpose of the spell she was using, but also partly to obscure the spells that Freya was using in case Esther was able to hear them.

"The boundary's up," Bonnie called out a moment later.

Esther turned around to face them, blood running down the bottom half of her face, and sent an aneurysm spell their way. The Originals were strong enough to withstand the pain Esther inflicted, but the regular vampires among them, Katherine and Josh, fell to their knees in agony.

Esther callously stepped over them as she walked out of the room, moving briskly towards the stairs.

The Mikaelson siblings followed after her, the rest of their allies filling in behind them. Freya continued chanting quietly.

"Where do you think you're going?" Elijah demanded.

Esther clearly knew that she was trapped and outnumbered, but she would always refuse to show weakness.

"Would you really threaten me, my son?" she asked, adopting a mournful tone.

"You threatened to kill my niece," Elijah came to an abrupt stop. "You caused the death of an innocent human who was just trying to protect his children."

"Speaking of those children, I assume you have them hidden away wherever you've stashed Hope?" Esther asked. "They must be very special if you're going to such lengths to keep them away from me."

"I do not understand how a mother of seven could find the idea of wanting to protect innocent children from someone who wants to hurt them so utterly incomprehensible," Rebekah scoffed.

Instead of acting offended, Esther laughed.

"I did try to protect my children, before they became monsters who beget other monsters," Esther retorted. "I did everything I could to protect you from the wolves, and now here you are, inviting them into your home and breeding new ones."

"Enough!" Klaus shouted.

Apparently everyone else had also had enough, because that was when everything rapidly spiraled out of control.

It seemed that everyone was either shouting, growling, or performing a spell.

Bonnie immediately started chanting the words to a spell. Hayley charged forward, fangs bared. Kol and Elijah whooshed behind Esther so that she couldn't escape. The noise created chaos, with everyone moving and yelling, so that it was challenging to tell who was saying what and where they were as some of them moved at vampire speed.

Bonnie's spell sent Esther flying backwards, as if pushed by a gust of wind. Elijah grabbed hold of her wrists and held them behind her back.

But Esther wasn't ready to give up without a fight. She fought her way free from Elijah's hold, using a spell that had Elijah releasing her quickly, as if his skin was on fire.

Esther raised her hands and chanted loudly. It was unclear for only a second what the purpose of the spell was: then Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol were lifted from the ground and levitated, Esther leaving them to float above the staircase for a few minutes before letting them fall into the courtyard.

They collapsed to the ground, though the spell didn't seem to have done any permanent damage. The four Originals quickly scrambled to their feet, but as they moved towards the stairs, they realized that to get back to the second level of the house would require passing by Esther. Klaus exchanged a questioning look with Elijah, who silently agreed to stay where they were so that they could trap Esther and stop her if she tried to leave.

Esther stepped forward towards Finn.

"You would betray me like this, my darling?" Esther asked. "You were always my moral child, the one who understand that immortality, drinking blood to survive, is unnatural? What have I done to deserve you turning on me in this way?"

"You manipulated me," Finn accused. "You used my guilt and shame over what you'd made me to further your plans to make amends for the immortal creatures that you created. I have finally found a place amongst my family. I would always rather live as a vampire with them than die as a human with you. You are trying to kill children, little girls who have done nothing wrong, who did not ask to inherit their parents' sins or enemies. You seek to eliminate vampires because you say they are immoral, but is there a more heinous crime than the premeditated murder of innocent children?"

Klaus laughed.

"Whatever will you do now that your loyal accomplice has broken free?" he called out.

Esther angrily swiped her hand through the air, and Finn fell to the ground, his neck snapped.

Seeing that he was the only vampire left standing in the hallway, Marcel decided to join the Originals in the courtyard, leaping over the railing and landing between Klaus and Rebekah.

But Esther had effectively separated them, and she'd positioned herself in such a way that they would be unable to regroup without her getting in their way.

Katherine, Josh, and Finn had been incapacitated; Freya, Bonnie, Davina, Vincent, Hayley and Jackson were upstairs; Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, and Marcel were downstairs. And Esther was standing at the top of the stairs, ensuring that anyone who wanted to go up or down would have to go through her.

But that didn't mean that there was nothing that they could do.

Their advantage over Esther, from the beginning, had been their numbers. Freya, their most powerful witch, was working on a specific task, but there were three other witches who could use their magic against Esther. And so far, there had been too much talk and not enough action for Klaus's taste.

Bonnie repeated the spell she'd done earlier to push Esther down the hall, this time pushing her down the stairs. Davina performed a spell that immobilized Esther, and Vincent did something that made her cry out in pain.

Esther was too powerful for either of the spells to affect her for long, but they did give them a moment to catch their breath before Esther's attacks started up again.

The witches and wolves ran down the stairs after her. Hayley managed to bite Esther's hand, but Esther retaliated by shoving the wolf across the courtyard, leaving Hayley whimpering in pain, causing Jackson to trot over to her to help.

Esther used the spell she'd used to push Hayley again, but the vampires were able to use their speed to avoid it.

It soon became clear why most of their past conflicts with witches had involved the vampires being restrained. While the vampires were Esther's targets, they were able to evade her attacks using their inhuman speed, sight, and hearing.

Esther soon grew tired of wasting her energy on spells that weren't having their intended effect and switched tactics to sending her spells in the witches' direction. The courtyard was alight with all of the spells that the four witches were throwing back and forth.

The thought running through Klaus's mind as he watched the witches exchange spells, was that Caroline hated this. She hated when a situation required magic and so the twins had to do the heavy lifting and all she could do was watch.

Klaus found himself in a similar situation. As strong and powerful as he was, he couldn't get close enough to Esther to use them without her being able to use her magic against him. All that the vampires had been able to do was play a game of magic dodge ball, which Esther had eventually surrendered in favor of a more evenly-matched confrontation with the witches, who were the only ones who could use their powers from a distance.

And it was clearly working. Esther looked visibly tired from the exertion of fighting three witches by herself.

"I'm finished!" Freya yelled triumphantly.

The atmosphere in the house changed. Everything they accomplished after that, any other way they managed to weaken Esther would just be an extra advantage compared to what Freya had done, a complex magical process that had taken her several minutes of concentration but would have taken the twins a fraction of the time and effort.

Freya started casting her own spells against Esther, conjuring flames that formed a barrier around Esther, preventing her from moving or escaping.

In the same moment, Esther took advantage of everyone's distraction at Freya's announcement to throw her own spell at Bonnie, who collapsed to the ground. If she lost consciousness at all, it was only for a few seconds, but that would be enough to cause her boundary spell to fall.

Freya, instinctively, turned to see if her friend was all right.

"Bonnie!" she yelled, taking a step towards the other witch.

"No!" Klaus shouted.

Freya's break in concentration caused the wall of flames containing Esther to disappear, leaving Esther free to move.

Vincent and Davina both rushed to replicate the spell, but they weren't as powerful as Freya, and they were too late.

Esther ran towards the gate as fast as she could, but even her fastest, most desperate human speed was no match for her children's vampire speed. Klaus and Elijah stepped in front of her, while Kol and Rebekah planted themselves in front of the gate.

"Let me pass," Esther ordered. "Consider this a temporary cease-fire and live to fight another day. I do not want to harm any witches, but if they continue to insist on fighting on your side, I may have no choice. Let me leave now, with everyone alive, or risk your friends' lives by keeping me here."

"What makes you think you're in any position to make demands?" Klaus challenged, moving around Esther so that she was surrounded by Original vampires.

"You've already lost three vampires, two wolves, and a witch from your ranks," Esther said. "But if it would offer you more incentive…"

Before Klaus could stop her, Esther waved her hand again, this time causing Marcel to fall to the ground with a broken neck. Elijah moved forward to try to restrain her, but she dodged him and turned towards the gate, waving her hand to snap Kol's and Rebekah's necks.

As they realized that Esther's offer of a truce was a ploy to get them all to stop moving and stay close enough for her to use her magic on them, Esther herself managed to slip through the gate and around the corner.

"I can't believe that we fell for her tricks," Klaus snarled. "We should have been able to defeat her easily."

"It's okay, I got it done," Freya reassured everyone still standing. "We may not have won this battle, but we'll win the war."

* * *

What did Freya do? You'll find out soon!

Five chapters and an epilogue left until the end!

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	33. Chapter XXXIII: Time Makes You Bolder

Hello lovely readers!

This chapter is largely a filler/bridge chapter introducing the next (last) section of the story, but there are some important details (which will hopefully answer any questions you may have about the previous chapter), so please read carefully (and if for some reason you missed the latest update before this one, make sure you've read chapter thirty-two first, or this chapter will make no sense to you). As always, if you have any questions or need clarification, please feel free to contact me via a review or a private message!

Chapter title comes from Fleetwood Mac's song "Landslide."

Happy reading!

* * *

It had been two weeks since the Mikaelsons had fought with Esther, and two weeks since they'd seen or heard from her.

And so, September had given way to October in relative peace for the Mikaelsons.

After a few tumultuous weeks, it was a relief to return to the closest to normalcy the Mikaelsons ever enjoyed.

So naturally they were concerned when Klaus summoned all of them (including Marcel, Vincent, and Josh, but excluding Hayley and Jackson) to the dining room early in the morning.

"What is this about?" Rebekah asked.

"Well, sister, I'm glad you asked," Klaus answered. "There is a very important event coming up very soon, and I wanted to bring it to your attention."

The tension in the room increased, if that was even possible. They were all expecting Klaus to tell them about some sort of celestial event that would give Esther more power, or a date of historical significance to the witch ancestors that would affect their magic somehow.

"What is it?" Elijah asked, voicing the question they were all thinking.

Klaus looked offended.

"It's Caroline's birthday next week."

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Katherine asked Caroline.

"I honestly didn't think of it," Caroline answered.

She knew that day's date, and she knew her birth date, but she'd been so focused on the twins and the fight against Esther that she hadn't put together that her birthday was less than ten days away.

"How old are you turning, sweet Caroline?" Kol asked mischievously.

"Twenty-five," Caroline answered sheepishly, knowing that her lifetime would seem incredibly insignificant to someone who had lived over a thousand years.

"You're up to a quarter of a century," Marcel encouraged.

"Well, I am determined to make this your best birthday ever," Klaus told Caroline. "At least, the best yet. I might outdo myself in the future."

Bonnie burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Freya asked.

"Caroline claimed her birthday as all of our friends' favorite day of the year," Bonnie explained.

"Yeah, so?" Caroline asked defensively.

"You didn't even remember your birthday," Bonnie continued. "You haven't mentioned your birthday at all that I know of. Klaus remembered your birthday, from seven years ago, without any reminders, and is treating your birthday like it is his favorite and the most important day of the year."

Caroline beamed. It was true that no matter what was going on, Klaus always made her feel like she was the most important thing in his life.

"It is," Klaus stated. "And I just thought you all should know, so that you aren't surprised when I throw a party for it, and so that you all have some time to get your gifts in order."

Caroline immediately shook her head.

"You really don't have to get me anything," Caroline insisted.

"Of course they do," Klaus proclaimed authoritatively, overruling Caroline's contradiction.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to be hosting a party, under the circumstances?" Vincent asked.

"It's for Caroline," Klaus argued.

"Niklaus, Vincent's concerns are not entirely unreasonable," Elijah attempted to diffuse the tension. "Have you thought this through and decided that this party is worth the risks?"

"What risks, Elijah?" Klaus demanded exasperatedly. "Thanks to Freya, Esther's cloaking spell is no longer concealing her from us, and she has no idea; and Freya's tracking spell is monitoring her everywhere she goes. Freya has also put protective spells on all of us, similar to the ones on the girls' necklaces, so that Esther cannot possess or harm us using magic. If we get word that Esther is planning something during the party, we will change our plans. But Caroline's happiness is worth any risk, brother, and I will not entertain any suggestions to the contrary."

"Klaus, it's okay, I don't need to have a big party for my birthday," Caroline spoke up.

As much as Caroline appreciated Klaus standing up for her and trying to make her happy, she would never ask him to prioritize her happiness over his family's safety.

"Do you not want a party?" Klaus asked sincerely. "Because you can have whatever you want."

"You want a pony, Mommy," Lizzie interjected.

All of the adults laughed.

"I think it's you who wants a pony, my little angel," Klaus responded. "How about when it's your birthday, we can talk about getting you a pony."

"Okay," Lizzie agreed.

"And what about you, sweetheart? Would you like a pony, too?" Klaus asked Josie.

Josie maintained her shy silence for a few minutes, then nodded excitedly.

"All right, then, two ponies, coming up," Klaus promised. "But it's not quite your birthday yet, so you'll have to be patient for a few more months, okay?"

"Okay," the twins agreed.

"Now back to the more pressing matter of Caroline's birthday," Klaus said. "If anyone is uncomfortable with attending the party, I suppose I can't force you to come, but Caroline deserves this."

"Well, I am totally in favor of having the party," Kol offered. "We are overdue for some fun."

"I'm in, too," Marcel added. "We're as prepared and protected as we possibly can be. If we all just hide at home for the rest of our lives, then we might as well just let Esther kill us now. I'm not going to let her scare me into hiding. I'll be there."

There was a murmur of agreement from about half of the table. Caroline was torn, because she knew that Klaus would ultimately give her the final say on whether or not to have the party.

She agreed that hiding away in the house, as they had for the past two weeks, was getting more and more frustrating by the day. As far as Caroline could tell, the only advantage to the situation was that, since they couldn't go out by themselves, Kol and Davina had been spending more time with Josie, much to the little girl's delight, and now their relationship was closer than ever. No one was happier about the reunion than Finn, who was so quiet and introverted that, as much as he loved Josie, he did sometimes need some alone time to recharge after spending time with an enthusiastic little girl who literally drew energy from others.

But except for Finn, who happily spent any time he wasn't with Josie in his room alone (reading, he'd confessed when Josie had asked him what he did in his room that could possibly be more fun than playing with her, explaining to Caroline and her daughters that he had always had an interest in storytelling and literature, and was now trying to catch up on all of the books he had missed out on during the centuries he was daggered), everyone else was getting bored and irritable. The day before, Kol and Katherine had gotten into a fight over who would get to go grocery shopping, evidently so tired of staring at the walls of the Mikaelson compound that even going out for a few minutes to buy milk and cereal sounded exciting. Caroline thought, rather uncharitably, that now they all knew how it had felt when they had forbidden her from leaving the house, and they had the advantage of commiserating with others when she didn't.

"Are we going to put it to a vote, then?" Elijah asked.

"Of course not," Klaus answered. "Caroline gets to decide what she wants, and that's what will happen. It's a birthday party, Elijah, not a battle strategy."

Everyone looked to Caroline expectantly.

She could predict how everyone would have voted. Klaus, Rebekah, Kol, Katherine, and Marcel would have voted in favor; Elijah, Bonnie, Finn, and Vincent would have been opposed; and Freya, Davina, and Josh would have insisted that they had no preference either way and that they would be happy to celebrate Caroline's birthday in whatever way the birthday girl chose.

"The hypothetical vote I just conducted in my head came out in favor of having the party, so…" Caroline trailed off.

"But is that what you want to do for your birthday?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah, I think it is," Caroline answered. "In addition to all of us wanting to go outside, it's been a while since I've been to a party, and even longer since I went to a party that I didn't plan."

"Then I'll get to work planning," Klaus said. "And I'm going to need help from you two," Klaus told the twins. "What do you think, would you like to help me?"

Lizzie and Josie grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

Klaus held out his hands to them, and the girls ran over to him and each grabbed one of his hands.

Then Klaus led the girls out of the room and upstairs without another word.

"Do any of you know what that's all about?" Caroline asked.

Several people shook their heads.

"He probably just wants to make them feel important," Rebekah suggested. "He'll probably just ask them which shade of pink they like better, or whether we should have gold or silver balloons. There's no need for you to worry."

Caroline shook her head.

"I'm not worried," she insisted.

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Caroline, you're always worried."

"Not now," Caroline repeated. "I trust Klaus with the twins, and I know that he would never do anything with them that I would have to worry about. Whatever it is they're up to, we'll find out next week."

{ }

The next morning, there was a knock on Caroline's door bright and early.

"Is everyone decent?" Rebekah asked as she slowly pushed open the door.

Caroline laughed.

"Yes, Rebekah," she answered. From beside her, Klaus groaned and tightened his arms around her.

"Okay, good," Rebekah said, moving her hand from over her eyes. "Well, come on, let's get a move on."

"For what? What's happening?" Caroline asked, sitting up in bed.

"We have to go shopping for dresses for your birthday party," Rebekah informed her.

"Was this your idea?" Caroline asked Klaus, who had sat up beside her, keeping his arms around her waist.

"You need a dress for your party," Klaus insisted.

"Are you sure that it's safe?" Caroline asked. "You're the one who put me on lockdown weeks ago, and now you want me to go shopping?"

"It's been two weeks since Esther has done anything. Thanks to Freya, we know exactly where she is and we can take her down as soon as she moves. If she takes even one step towards you, she's dead. I would never do anything that could risk your safety, but I don't want you to stay hidden away here like something that I'm ashamed of, or like some defenseless damsel in distress. I want you to have fun with your friends, and the fact that they're capable of keeping you safe helps put my mind at ease. If you don't want to go, you don't have to, I just thought this would make you happy," Klaus said.

Caroline knew that Klaus's top priorities were her safety and her happiness, she just hadn't been sure what he would do when one of those priorities seemed to be standing in the way of the other. After weeks of Klaus almost militantly guarding her, she was pleased to see him strike a balance between her safety and her happiness, without seriously infringing on either.

"Who else is coming?" Caroline asked.

"All of us. You, me, Freya, Bonnie, Katherine, Davina," Rebekah listed.

"And, of course, you'll have your hybrid bodyguards, as always," Klaus added.

"Just give me a minute to get dressed, Rebekah," Caroline relented, pulling Klaus's hands off of her and standing up.

"Okay, I still have to wake the others up anyway," Rebekah agreed. "I'll see you downstairs."

And with that, Rebekah flounced out of the room.

Caroline walked over to her closet and pulled out a comfortable outfit that would be easy to change out of to try on dresses.

"Will you please watch the girls while I'm out?" Caroline asked. "Josie asked Davina to teach her the spell to light candles, and while I'm not excited about my baby playing with fire, all of the grown-up witches assure me that this is a fairly elementary spell and the next lesson after the feathers, so if she wants to practice the spell, please just keep an eye on her. Lizzie and Hope aren't ready yet, but they'll probably want to watch, so will you please supervise all three of them, and have a fire extinguisher handy in case something goes wrong?"

Klaus put his hands on Caroline's shoulders to get her to stay still.

"Caroline, you don't have to convince me to spend time with my children," Klaus said. "Of course I'll watch them. I'll even call Vincent to come over so that we have a witch on the premises to help out, plus Kol was there when Davina taught Josie the spell so he can help too. We'll be fine. Have fun, everything is under control here."

"Okay."

Caroline quickly changed into her comfortable shopping outfit, which consisted of stretch jeans, a grey long-sleeved tee-shirt, and pull-on ankle boots, before leaving Klaus in their room and heading downstairs.

She was the third to arrive, after Rebekah and Bonnie, who were dressed similarly to her.

The twins made their way downstairs before anyone else they were waiting for, so Caroline took the opportunity to make them breakfast herself and explain the plan for the day to them.

"I'm going out with Rebekah, Freya, Bonnie, Katherine, and Davina, so Klaus is going to stay with you, okay?"

"Where are you going?" Josie asked.

"We have to get new dresses for my birthday party next week," Caroline answered.

"But we need new dresses for the party, too!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Caroline turned to face Rebekah.

"Any reason why they can't come along?" Caroline asked.

The twins had been cooped up in the house just as she had, and they had a much shorter attention span than she did. They were probably going out of their minds with boredom. If it was safe enough for Caroline to leave the house, then it must be safe enough for Lizzie and Josie to come with her.

Rebekah shrugged.

"I don't see why they can't."

Lizzie and Josie cheered.

"Then, after breakfast, go get dressed so that we can go," Caroline instructed.

"Klaus!" Caroline called at a volume only a little louder than she would use if he was in the room with her, so that he would know she was trying to get his attention, not just talking about him.

Klaus appeared in the doorway a moment later.

"Yes, my love?"

"You're off the hook for babysitting duty," Caroline told him. "The twins informed me that they need new dresses for the party too, so they're coming with us."

"All right," Klaus agreed quickly, but Caroline could tell he was a little reluctant.

"Do you not want them to come? Is it not safe for them to come? Is there something you know that I don't?" Caroline asked.

"It is perfectly safe; I wouldn't withhold something like that from you and risk the children's safety," Klaus said. "I was just looking forward to spending time with them, is all."

Caroline smiled.

Lizzie's eyes went wide.

"Oh! For the—"

"Lizzie!" Josie snapped.

"The game," Lizzie corrected herself. "We were going to play a game."

Caroline had to stop herself from laughing. She knew that Lizzie was giving her some cover story that Klaus had told her to say, and that Josie had intervened before she could give away something the three of them weren't ready for her to know yet. Like Caroline herself when she was younger, Lizzie was notoriously bad at keeping secrets—she was just too excitable and talkative.

"I'm sure you'll have time to play your game when we get home," Caroline indulged her.

Whatever Klaus and the twins were up to, Caroline was glad that they were spending time together, and at Klaus's request.

Freya walked in to the room next.

"Auntie Freya, we're coming with you!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"That's great!" Freya replied.

It didn't take long for everyone to finish getting ready and meet in the dining room, especially since Rebekah kept ordering them to hurry up so that they could get to the mall as soon as it opened, so that they would have plenty of time to shop and not have to fight through the afternoon crowds.

"Chill out, Rebekah," Katherine complained. Unlike the rest of them, she hadn't opted to wear a comfortable outfit, instead dressing in her typical skintight jeans and high heels. "Little Miss Mystic Falls is more calm than you, and it's her party. You need to get—sorry Caroline—you know what you need to get."

Though it was hard teaching centuries old vampires new tricks, Caroline did appreciate that most of the Mikaelsons were making an effort to monitor the way they spoke in front of the girls. The adults knew exactly what Katherine was implying, but the twins had no idea.

"Well, we're all here and ready to go now, that's what counts," Caroline tried to diffuse the situation. "Wait, is Hope coming?"

"No, I don't think so," Klaus answered. "Today is one of Hayley's visiting days, so she'll want to be here when her mother arrives."

"No!" Rebekah wagged her finger angrily in Caroline's face. "We are not waiting for Hayley to get here so that we can ask her if she and Hope want to come shopping with us. We have waited long enough."

"Fine," Caroline conceded.

She turned to say goodbye to Klaus, but he was no longer in the room.

"Where did he go?" Caroline asked.

"Just to the garage to move the twins' car seats into the car," Klaus answered as he reappeared.

"Oh, thanks," Caroline replied. "Is there a theme or color scheme for this party that I should be aware of?

Klaus looked thoughtful for a moment, clearly debating whether or not to tell her.

"Pink, gold, and black," he eventually answered. "But you'll look beautiful in anything you wear."

Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, opening it and selecting a credit card, which he handed to Caroline.

"Consider it an early birthday present," he said.

"Just this once," Caroline told him. "But thank you."

"Of course."

"Come on, girls, let's go," Caroline extended her hands to the twins.

Lizzie and Josie grinned and each held one of her hands.

"Have fun," Klaus said.

Rebekah led them through the garage to one of Klaus's SUVs. She unlocked the door and slid into the driver's seat.

"Shotgun!" Katherine yelled, running around to the other side of the car.

Freya, Bonnie, and Davina obligingly crawled into the last row of seats, letting Caroline sit next to the twins in the middle row.

"Finally," Rebekah grumbled under her breath as she backed out of the garage.

{ }

"So, Rebekah," Caroline said as they browsed through a rack of dresses in the first store they'd visited. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Oh, is it the same thing that I've been meaning to ask her about?" Katherine asked.

"I don't know, but this makes it clear that we are way overdue for some girl talk," Caroline responded.

As Rebekah had hoped, they were the only ones in the store. Freya and Davina had offered to take Lizzie and Josie to visit the neighboring children's section, leaving Caroline, Rebekah, Katherine, and Bonnie looking together.

"What was it that you wanted to ask?" Rebekah asked.

"What is the deal with you and Marcel?"

"That was what I was going to ask!" Katherine exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked, looking down at a red dress that had caught her attention. "What do you think of this one?"

"You own a dozen dresses that look just like that one, you don't need to buy another," Caroline told her. "And we're familiar with your stalling techniques. Answer the question."

"Yeah, no one looks at their aunt the way that Marcel looks at you," Katherine chimed in. "There's a story there."

Rebekah sighed.

"We were in love, over a hundred years ago," she explained. "You already know that Nik adopted him when he was a boy, and when he grew up, he swore that he was going to marry me. We had to keep our relationship a secret from Nik, because—"

"We've met Klaus, we understand," Katherine assured her.

Rebekah chuckled.

"Well, we were scared of what would happen if Nik found out, so Marcel and I did something very stupid in an attempt to free ourselves from Nik's control."

"What was that?" Bonnie asked.

"We called Mikael to New Orleans," Rebekah said.

"How could you do that?" Caroline asked. "He could have killed all of you!"

"We had hoped that the threat of Mikael's arrival would cause Nik to flee the city, and Marcel and I could be together openly," Rebekah sighed. "Of course, it didn't work out like that. Nik found out about us and daggered me, Mikael arrived and devastated the city, and Nik and Marcel each spent over a century thinking that the other was dead."

"I'm sorry, if I'd known the story was so sad, I wouldn't have asked," Caroline apologized.

"That isn't even the saddest part," Rebekah lamented. "Marcel had wanted to be a vampire for a long time before he was turned. Nik offered him the choice of undaggering me and letting us be together for the rest of his human life, or turning him into a vampire. And Marcel chose vampirism over me."

"What a jerk!" Katherine declared.

Rebekah raised her eyebrows.

"Solidarity, sister," Katherine insisted.

"He still looks at you like he loves you, though," Caroline pointed out. "I mean, who wouldn't, you're gorgeous and fantastic, but he definitely has feelings for you that go beyond regret and nostalgia."

"You guys are being so nice about this," Rebekah commented.

"That's what friends do when their friend is having relationship drama," Caroline explained. "See, our particular group doesn't really have relationship drama. We have your mother trying to kill your niece drama."

"We are surprisingly functional when it comes to relationships," Katherine remarked. "I mean, we have Kol, who I don't think has a thought that isn't about Davina in some capacity, and Klaus, who can't go two minutes without telling Caroline how much he loves her."

"And you and Elijah," Caroline chimed in. "You're the definition of opposites attract, but you complement each other and make each other better. You're perfect for each other."

"How pathetic is it that my insane brothers can be happy in love and I can't?" Rebekah questioned.

"You aren't pathetic," Caroline insisted. "So, you haven't met the love of your life and gotten your happily-ever-after fairy tale ending yet. The person who is perfect for you, and will know your worth, and treat you the way you deserve to be treated is out there. Granted, it would be easier for you to find him if Klaus didn't kill all potential suitors, but don't worry, I will talk to him about that."

"Thanks, Caroline."

"And remember that your relationship only has to work for you," Katherine advised. "It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks as long as you love him and he loves you. I mean, no one understands mine and Elijah's relationship, but it works for us so we don't really care."

"It's true, I have no idea how you went from him trying to save you from being killed to you two being in love for centuries to whatever you two were doing with Hayley and the Salvatores, to you being dead and then the Queen of Hell and then dead again and then being alive. Also, does he even own pajamas, or does he sleep in a suit?" Caroline wondered.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Katherine smirked. "Of course not, Caroline, it would wrinkle." She laughed and rolled her eyes. "When I first met Elijah, Klaus was getting ready to use me for the ritual that would unbind his werewolf side, so he asked Elijah to supervise me, to make sure I didn't find out what was happening and try to escape before I could be sacrificed, which, of course, I did, but that wasn't Elijah's fault. Anyway, we spent a lot of time together, and at one point, Elijah confessed to me that he didn't believe in love, which I remember thinking was very sad, especially for someone who had been so kind to me. I said something about not seeing the point in living without love, and he looked at me like he wanted to believe me. I grew to care for him in the time we spent together, just as he seemed to grow to care for me. And then I chose my life over Elijah's brother's werewolf side and I had no choice to keep running for centuries. I changed my name and put on the shield of Katherine Pierce, someone who would manipulate, compel, seduce, threaten, kill—whatever she had to do to survive. Eventually, it got to the point that I lost the person behind the façade of Katherine. But Elijah still saw Katerina, the girl with hopes and dreams and who believed in love so fiercely that she thought life would have no meaning without it, even when I couldn't. He walked away from me once because he couldn't see her anymore, and it devastated me. Elijah makes me feel like I can finally put my armor down and just be that happy, innocent girl again; like I can stop fighting, because he'll fight for me."

"That's so beautiful," Caroline said tearfully.

"Please make her stop crying, before Klaus's 'someone upset Caroline' alarm goes off and he kills me for making Caroline cry," Katherine complained.

"See? That's what I want," Rebekah declared, tearing up herself.

"And you'll have it," Katherine stated sincerely. "You're going to find someone who loves you that much, and maybe it's Marcel and maybe it isn't, but either way, you deserve someone who loves you more than he wants to live forever, or live a normal human life, or be with my boring doppelganger. Now can we please end this conversation? The sentimentality is making me break out in hives."

Katherine was spared by the twins, who ran over to Caroline with Freya and Davina trailing after them, each holding a few child-size dresses.

"Mommy, we found dresses we like, can we try them on?" Lizzie asked.

"Of course," Caroline agreed. "We have to know if they fit before we can choose one, right?"

Having had little luck in their own search, Rebekah, Katherine, and Bonnie followed Caroline, Freya, Davina, and the twins to the fitting rooms.

Freya sat down next to Caroline as the twins ran into two adjacent fitting rooms.

"They seem to be back in good spirits," Freya commented.

"Yeah, they're doing a lot better," Caroline replied. "I think their renewed focus on practicing their magic has helped. Of course, they still have their moments. We all cried the first Friday afterwards, when they would have gone to Alaric's for the weekend. But we're trying, and that's really all I can ask for."

"Did going to the safehouse help?" Freya asked.

"I think that the change of scenery helped, but I don't know if it was the safehouse specifically," Caroline answered.

Lizzie came out of the fitting room wearing a bubblegum pink dress with a glittery tulle skirt, a lace top with cap sleeves, and a ribbon belt.

"I really like this one, Mommy," Lizzie said.

"You look like a princess, baby!" Caroline smiled.

The other girls nodded enthusiastically.

"Can we get it?" Lizzie asked, her eyes wide and her lips pouting.

Caroline checked the price tag on the dress.

"Um, Caroline? Klaus is paying. They can get whatever they want," Katherine said.

"Yay!" Lizzie cheered.

"Go get changed so that we can buy the dress, okay?" Caroline instructed. Once Lizzie was back in the fitting room, she mumbled, "He's going to spoil them rotten."

Josie appeared a moment later, wearing a magenta dress with a tulle skirt and a top covered completely in glitter.

"You look so pretty!" Caroline complimented.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Caroline confirmed.

"Thank you!" Josie beamed.

Josie darted back into the fitting room to change back into her own clothes.

"I wish I was kid," Katherine said. "Everything they try on fits and looks cute."

"This is only the store we've looked in," Caroline reminded her. "We can go somewhere else once I've bought the girls' dresses."

After Caroline handed over Klaus's credit card at the register, shaking her head and wincing as she glanced at the receipt, they went to another store, where Rebekah sprinted towards a sparkly black dress as soon as she passed through the doors.

"That's a good sign," Bonnie remarked.

They all followed after Rebekah and started looking for dresses themselves.

Before any of them could get a good look at the inventory, Rebekah stepped out of the fitting room wearing a black dress covered entirely in glitter, with a circular cut-out in the back that was filled in with lace, and elbow-length bell sleeves.

"Thoughts?" Rebekah asked.

All of the girls offered positive feedback, gushing over how much they love the dress and how great it looked on Rebekah.

"Good, because I like it and I had already decided to buy it regardless of what you all thought," Rebekah announced, retreating back into the fitting room to change.

Freya and Katherine also picked out black dresses that they liked, though since they had very different styles, the dresses were also different. Freya's was a long, flowing dress made of a gauzy fabric and patterned with small pink flowers, while Katherine's was a shorter and form-fitting dress made from a shiny, satiny fabric that laced down the sides, ending with oversize bows. Their choices received equal amounts of praise from the other girls.

"We don't have to wear the party's colors, do we?" Davina asked, holding up a white dress.

"Oh! No, I only asked so that we wouldn't clash with the decorations. You can wear whatever you want," Caroline assured her.

Rebekah, Freya, and Katherine sat with the twins, who were starting to get restless.

"Are any of you worried about this party?" Caroline asked, moving over to another rack of dresses. "I mean, I know Freya dismantled Esther's spells, which still doesn't completely make sense to me, so Klaus isn't concerned, but I know his priorities can be a little off, when it comes to me."

"You mean his 'everyone else can drop dead as long as Caroline is happy' shtick?" Katherine asked. "I still don't think he would have the party if he thought there was any risk."

"Caroline, I was able to remove the cloaking spell and protective spell that Esther had put on herself, as well as put a tracking spell on her, and a spell that essentially acted as a cloaking spell on those spells, so Esther has no clue that anything has changed. She thinks still thinks that her cloaking and protective spells are still working, and she has no idea that we're tracking her," Freya explained.

"So, you know where she is, right this minute?" Caroline questioned.

"At the residence she's adopted as her home in the city," Freya responded promptly. "Which still has a plethora of protective spells that I haven't been able to remove yet. That's the only reason she's still alive. Once I manage to take those spells down, or she leaves the house—whichever comes first—she's a goner."

"And Klaus also said that you put protective spells on everyone?" Caroline asked.

"The same spell that's on the girls' necklaces," Freya confirmed. "It will protect us from compulsion, possession, and most spells, which will be especially helpful if Esther tries her favorite trick, the aneurysm spell."

Davina wandered out of the fitting room wearing a white dress with braided shoulder straps and ruffles at the hem and off-the-shoulder sleeves, which was met with enthusiastic approval from the rest of the group.

"And then there were two," Caroline commented to Bonnie, who smiled.

"Katherine's right, why is this so hard?" Bonnie wondered.

Eventually, Bonnie found pale gold dress with a V-neckline and classic A-line silhouette that was flattering on her figure and made her skin and eyes look vibrant.

"Mommy, can we go home?" Lizzie whined.

"Just a couple more minutes, sweetie. Mommy still needs to find a dress," Caroline answered.

Caroline decided that she would give herself another ten minutes of looking before she called it a day, in order to avoid the twins having tantrums in the middle of the store. She could always come back herself another day.

She ended up settling on a simple pale pink dress with cap sleeves and a flared skirt that she liked well enough but didn't love.

She pulled Klaus's credit card out again and gestured for everyone to give her their dresses.

"I don't think Klaus was offering to pay for all of our dresses," Davina worried.

"Klaus isn't offering, Caroline is offering, so it doesn't really matter that Klaus isn't offering," Katherine reasoned, handing Caroline her dress, then taking Davina's from her and handing it over as well.

This time, Caroline didn't even look at the total as she signed the receipt.

She knew that money wasn't a concern for Klaus, but she'd been raised by a single mother who earned a modest income as a public servant, and was used to carefully budgeting and bargain shopping. Caroline would probably never entirely change her outlook, but she was willing to splurge for special occasions and for the twins.

She gathered up their shopping bags.

"Now we can go home."

{ }

"Davina, can I try the spell now?" Josie asked as soon as they passed through the gate.

"If it's okay with your mom," Davina replied.

"Can I, Mommy? Please?"

"If you're very careful," Caroline agreed. "And if you get a couple more grown-ups to supervise. I'm sure Uncle Kol will help you if you ask nicely."

Josie scampered off in search of Kol, finding him in the dining room, in the middle of an animated discussion with Klaus and Elijah.

"Uncle Kol, Mommy told me to ask you to supervise me," Josie pronounced carefully.

"Finally someone appreciates my babysitting skills," Kol grinned.

"If you're supervising her, then I will need to supervise you," Klaus said.

"Actually, I suggested she ask you because Davina is helping her, and I knew that if Klaus heard you were involved, he would volunteer," Caroline corrected from the doorway.

"Are we really that predictable?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Caroline answered.

"Well," Kol scoffed with mock indignation. "I wouldn't want to go where I'm not wanted."

"Uncle Kol," Josie whined, tugging on his hand.

"At least my little witch appreciates me," Kol said. "Come on, Josie Posy, let's go set things on fire."

Kol scooped Josie up and spun her in a circle above his head, making her squeal.

"How was your shopping trip?" Klaus asked Caroline.

"Good," Caroline answered. "Lizzie and Josie found dresses they love, and we all managed to find dresses before they started having tantrums, so all in all it was quite a successful trip."

"What about you, did you find a dress you love?" Klaus asked.

"Yes," Caroline replied unconvincingly. Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Okay, so I don't love it, but I like it and the twins were getting bored and fussy so I had to pick something. You aren't going to love every dress you ever wear."

Klaus hummed noncommittally in response.

They followed after Kol as he carried Josie on his hip across the courtyard to the room in which Bonnie had done the spell to access The Void the first time, though Caroline wasn't sure what its actual purpose was. The Mikaelson mansion had more rooms than the family and their guests could possibly use, and many of them Caroline hadn't set foot in since her search for Klaus.

Davina was placing candles of different sizes on the table and the floor.

"Are the other little witches joining us?" Kol asked, setting Josie down on the floor.

"No, they're not ready for this yet," Caroline answered. "And I don't know if you saw the video I took of the three of them practicing making the feathers float, but they really need to master that spell before they move on to the candles."

"I didn't get to see it, what happened?" Kol asked.

"You know how you call Lizzie 'Goldilocks?' It was a lot like that story," Caroline responded. "Lizzie used too little power, Hope used too much, and Josie was the only one so far who's figured out the 'just right' amount of power to use."

"They're still very young," Kol shrugged. "They'll get it soon enough."

"Wait for us!" a voice called from just outside the door.

Katherine came running in to the room with Elijah and Bonnie on her heels.

"I put your dress on your bed," Katherine informed Caroline. "And Rebekah and Freya are watching Lizzie. They wanted to come help, but then Freya decided that too many people watching might make Josie nervous. And considering the implications of a nervous three-year-old witch practicing a spell that involves fire for the first time, we thought she was right."

"Then why are you here?" Klaus asked.

"When have I ever made anyone nervous?" Katherine replied. "Munchkin, do you want Auntie Kat to leave?" she asked Josie.

Josie shook her head.

"If anyone is making anyone nervous it's Caroline," Katherine pointed out. "I think your nerves might be contagious."

"Sorry," Caroline said. "I mean, Josie helped bring four people back from the dead in this room, and here I am, a nervous wreck over a basic spell."

"That's because it feels real," Klaus explained. "Accessing another dimension feels abstract, whereas this candle is tangible. The consequences of sending Elijah into The Void felt less concrete than the very real potential consequences of a fire. And, of course, Josie is doing this magic by herself, as opposed to just helping by serving as a magical conductor."

Caroline took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Okay, that makes sense," she responded. "Josie, honey, do you want all of us here? Because some people can leave if having too many people here is making it hard for you to concentrate."

Josie's brown eyes scanned over all of them, resting on Elijah briefly before continuing, then nodded.

"I can leave if that would make her more comfortable," Elijah offered.

Caroline shook her head, crouching down to Josie's height.

"Baby, why are you mad at Uncle Elijah?" she asked.

"He didn't want me," Josie whispered.

"I don't understand," Caroline replied, looking up at Elijah, who looked just as confused as she felt.

"When the evil witch came," Josie said, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "He picked me up but then he got rid of me."

Caroline remembered the moment that Josie was describing. Elijah had swooped in to save Josie before she fell to the ground after Genevieve died, then quickly handed her off to Finn so that he could turn his attention to strategizing. Which to her daughter had seemed like a personal rejection. And Caroline couldn't really blame her for her reaction. Elijah wasn't a very openly loving or affectionate person, but she would have said the same thing about all of the Mikaelson men before they met the twins, and now Klaus, Kol, and even Finn adored Josie and Lizzie.

"That wasn't what I meant, I assure you," Elijah responded. "I simply needed my hands free to help make a plan and thought that you would be more comfortable with someone else."

Josie appeared to consider this for a moment.

"Okay," she accepted.

"Can we please start setting things on fire now? My little witch prodigy and I are getting bored," Kol complained.

"Fine, Kol, since we know everything any of us do must be for your entertainment," Klaus scolded.

"We all came in here so that my niece could practice a spell she's very excited about learning," Kol retorted. "This is about supporting her, and being proud of her, as she explores and develops her magical abilities."

"You're right," Klaus conceded.

"Excellent," Kol replied. "Are you ready, Posy?"

"Ready!" Josie chirped.

"Wait," Klaus interrupted.

"Now what?" Kol griped.

"Josie, come here, sweetheart," Josie toddled through the maze of candles to where Klaus and Caroline were standing.

Klaus knelt down so that he was eye level for Josie and took her hands, which looked incredibly tiny in his.

"There is no spell, whether you can do it or you can't, that would make me any less proud of you, or love you any less, my brilliant girl. Your magic is special, but it isn't what makes you special. Okay?"

Josie nodded.

When Klaus let go of Josie and stood back up, Caroline took his hand and leaned against him, whispering, "I love you," into his shoulder.

Josie walked back over to where Kol and Davina were standing. They arranged themselves so that they were standing on either side of Josie, facing Klaus and Caroline, who were across the room watching.

Davina quietly murmured instructions to Josie, resting her hands on the little girl's shoulders to offer support.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the candle nearest to Josie flickered to life.

Caroline clapped.

"Do you want to try another one?" Davina asked quietly.

Josie nodded.

She closed her eyes, her little face screwed up in concentration.

"See, this would be when Hope would accidentally start a wildfire," Caroline remarked flippantly, never taking her eyes off Josie.

And then another candle produced a flame. And then another.

Kol's insistence that that was enough practice for one day was met with disgruntled complaints from Josie. She was more receptive to Davina's explanations that using too much magic at once could be tiring, and they didn't know how much magic a three-year-old siphoner who was used to using other people's magical energy could use before reaching her limit.

Katherine, Elijah, and Bonnie left the room first, as soon as Josie had finished the spell. Kol and Davina brought Josie upstairs to join Lizzie, Rebekah, and Freya a few minutes later.

But Klaus and Caroline remained, idly watching the candles that Josie had lit.

"Our little girl," Klaus wrapped his arms around Caroline's waist, resting his chin on top of her head. "She's full of light."

* * *

Get ready for the next chapter, it's a big one (both in size and significance).

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	34. Chapter XXXIV: You Can Have All of It

Hello, loves!

Thank you all very much for your reviews on the last chapter!

I am giving you all this special, early update today because it's Caroline's birthday in the story, and out here in the real world, it's my birthday! (: I would consider reviews on this chapter a lovely birthday gift (: (though nothing can compare to the lovely birthday gift that Caroline receives this chapter!) (:

I've been working on this chapter for a long time, and I really hope you love it! (:

As I've mentioned, Klaus goes over the top for Caroline's birthday, but I think it's cute and romantic (: And, fair warning, I cried while writing Freya's and Rebekah's (especially Rebekah's) birthday gifts, so you might cry while reading it. Just thought you should know.

This chapter is long and has a lot of information, so please read carefully, and, as always, feel free to contact me via review or message if you have any questions or would like any clarification.

The first section of this chapter includes the closest I feel comfortable writing to a sex scene… it's sappy and cheesy and not at all graphic, and I wouldn't include it at all if it wasn't important to the plot, nor would I have included the crass comments Kol and Katherine make soon after if it wouldn't have been totally out of character for them to say nothing and just let it go.

I tried to make all of the 'human' biology in this chapter as accurate as possible, but I'm not an expert, and there's also magic involved, so I am taking some creative license rather than strictly adhering to the information that I found in my younger brother's biology textbook.

The title for this chapter, of course, comes from Klaus's speech to Caroline on her eighteenth birthday in episode 3x11 of _The Vampire Diaries_.

There's another part of this author's note that I'm posting at the end of this chapter, since it contains spoilers for this chapter, so I'll see you after you finish reading the chapter!

Happy reading, loves! (:

* * *

"Happy birthday, my love," Caroline felt, almost more than heard, Klaus whisper in her ear. Then he kissed his way over her jaw and down her neck.

Caroline's eyes fluttered open as she sighed happily in response to Klaus's soft kisses.

"Good morning," Caroline whispered just as quietly.

"It is a very good morning," Klaus answered. "Today is a day dedicated entirely to my love, my beautiful queen, my perfect angel. I am going to make sure that you are happy every second of the day."

Klaus wrapped his arms more tightly around Caroline's waist and pulled her on top of him, continuing to cover all of her skin that he could reach with sweet kisses.

"You love me too much," Caroline accused halfheartedly.

"I will love you as much as I am capable, for the rest of time, and it will still not be nearly as much as you deserve," Klaus argued. "And you've clearly misunderstood the rules, because that didn't sound very happy."

"Right, sorry, I forgot," Caroline rolled her eyes. "You will consider it a personal failure if you don't make me happy every second today. As opposed to the other days of the year when you're determined to make me miserable."

Klaus grinned.

"I do spoil you, don't I?"

"Yes, you do."

"Good," Klaus replied. "You deserve to be spoiled. And speaking of spoiled, you, my love, have quite a few birthday presents waiting to be opened. Which would you like first?"

"I've already opened my first present," Caroline reminded him.

A few days earlier, Caroline had started her Christmas shopping lists for the girls. While she was working, she'd mentioned that her mother had always bought her a new pair of pajamas for Christmas, and that she'd always unwrapped and worn them on Christmas Eve—a tradition that she wanted to continue with the girls.

When she'd entered her room the previous night, she'd found a gift box sitting on the bed, which Klaus insisted that she open immediately. Caroline was touched to discover that he'd decided to pay tribute to her mother's holiday tradition.

In the box was a beautiful pink silk nightgown, trimmed with matching lace. Klaus urged her to try it on right away, and she fell in love with it as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror. It was feminine, elegant, and seductive; making her feel like the queen Klaus said that she was.

She was slightly disappointed when no actual seduction occurred—Klaus said, "You are so beautiful, my love," when he saw her, then gathered her in his arms, carried her to bed, and held her close until they fell asleep.

Klaus dropped one of his hands to her thigh, just below the hem of her nightgown.

"So you have," Klaus replied. "I should restate my question then. Which of your presents would you like to be the first one you open today?"

Klaus gently set Caroline down on the bed and went to retrieve her gifts from the closet. He returned with ten wrapped presents of varying sizes.

"I have to open the one from you first, you can't open a gift without the gift-giver present," Caroline insisted.

"These are all from me, sweetheart," Klaus informed her.

Seeing her surprised face, Klaus smirked.

"Spoiled, remember?"

Caroline sorted through the pile of gifts. There was one box that looked about the right size to contain earrings or a ring, one that clearly held a bracelet, another that Caroline guessed was for a necklace. There was a small square box, a slightly larger rectangular package, a large rectangular box, a box the size of a shoe box, and three gift bags of varying sizes.

"Wait," Klaus interrupted. "Before you open your gifts, if you could take just a second to give me the gift of peace of mind…"

Caroline sighed, but sat up on her knees so that she could reach Klaus. She pulled at his wrist, but instead of bringing it up to her face, she brought it around her waist, wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a hug.

"As much as I appreciate your attempt at comfort…"

Caroline rested her head on Klaus's shoulder, turning her face so that it was hidden in his neck. She let her fangs descend and bit into his carotid artery.

She'd always drank from his wrist, never from his neck, but she figured that her birthday was as good a day as any to try this new, intimate position.

One of Klaus's arms remained around her waist, while the other reached up to cradle her head, keeping her pressed against his neck.

After a few minutes, Klaus let Caroline go, though he still held her close.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Have at it," Klaus gestured to the pile of gifts.

Caroline decided to start with the small square box, unwrapping it to find a keychain. It was a far less extravagant gift than she'd anticipated from Klaus, and she was pleased that he had attempted to be reasonable.

Then she looked more closely.

In between the matching pink-rhinestone-covered charms—a letter C, a small round picture frame already containing a photo of the twins, a heart, a fleur-de-lis—and the key to the house she'd grown up in in Mystic Falls, was a car key.

But it wasn't the key to the little black hatchback that her mother had somehow scraped together enough money to buy used for her sixteenth birthday, which was still parked in Klaus's garage.

"You bought me a car?!" Caroline exclaimed.

Klaus chuckled.

"I did indeed."

Klaus scooped Caroline up and carried her over to the window. Parked in front of the house was a car that had to have cost at least ten times what Caroline's car had cost, an enormous bright pink bow wrapped around it. Caroline blinked rapidly, both in surprise and because the early morning sunlight reflecting off the sparkling gold paint threatened to blind her.

"I can't believe you!" Caroline cried. "What's in that box, a castle on the moon?"

"Would you like a castle on the moon?" Klaus asked sincerely. "There's a certain old-fashioned charm to building you a house, I suppose. In the times I grew up in, a man built his bride a home for them to start their lives together, to start a family."

"This is too much, and that was just the first gift!" Caroline lamented, returning to bed and sitting next to the pile of gifts.

"You deserve all of this and more," Klaus insisted. "Though I suppose I would have preferred it if you'd opened this one last, I fear most everything else will seem small and cheap in comparison."

"I have a system," Caroline informed him. "I open the boxes in order of size, then the bags in order of size."

Caroline reached for the next largest box, the one she'd assumed held earrings or a ring.

Caroline was stunned by the pink diamond chandelier earrings she found in the box. Each of the diamonds were shaped like a heart, increasing in size going down. Considering the flawless quality of the diamonds, Caroline guessed that they probably cost almost as much as the car did.

"These are so beautiful, thank you," Caroline leaned up to give Klaus a kiss.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you," Klaus replied.

"You're going to be appallingly cheesy all day, aren't you?" Caroline asked.

Klaus just grinned.

The next gift that Caroline opened was a familiar one: it was the bracelet that Klaus had given her for her eighteenth birthday.

This time, she immediately clasped it around her wrist.

"I took that to Katherine's witch," Klaus said. "She put the same spell on your bracelet that she put on the girls' necklaces. It will protect you from most magic, possession, and compulsion."

"Thank you," Caroline said.

Klaus gestured for her to continue opening presents.

Caroline quickly opened a pink diamond pendant that matched her new earrings; a bubblegum pink dress with a sweetheart neckline, fluttery cap sleeves and a full tulle skirt that would float around her knees, decorated with light pink gems in an elegant chandelier-like pattern across the bodice—almost identical to the dress Klaus had given her to wear to the ball, except for the color and the length; gold high heels with crisscrossing straps decorated with the same light pink jewels on her dress; and a bottle of expensive designer perfume that Caroline had liked when she'd gotten a free sample of it at the makeup counter, but never would have spent the money to buy it for herself.

Caroline set all of it, plus her new earrings, aside together, inferring that she was supposed to wear all of it to her birthday party that day.

After thanking Klaus profusely for each of the gifts, Caroline turned to the remaining presents. In the smallest of the packages, Caroline found a new gold laptop that was much more impressive than the one she was currently using.

"I complained about my computer being slow once, weeks ago—how did you remember that?" Caroline asked.

"Have I not made it clear that I hang on your every word, sweetheart?" Klaus smiled.

"And instead of just suggesting that I actually update my software rather than keep postponing it as I have for the last four months, you go buy me a new computer with twice the speed, storage, and memory of the last one?"

"Of course, Caroline. Nothing but the best for you," Klaus answered.

"You are insane."

Caroline shook her head and picked up the large gift bag propped up against her bed.

The bag was filled with travel guides. As Caroline sorted through them, she started to notice a pattern. Tucked into the front cover on a book about the Louvre, Caroline found an envelope containing two plane tickets.

"Paris!" she exclaimed. "We're going to Paris?!"

"Yes, my love, we are going to Paris," Klaus confirmed. "The rest of the family have all already agreed to watch the girls for the two weeks we'll be gone."

"Two weeks in Paris for my birthday?! This is amazing, thank you so much!" Caroline cried.

"You're very welcome," Klaus said, smiling at her enthusiasm.

Even compared to all of the amazing gifts that Klaus had given her, the last gift that Caroline opened was by far her favorite. In an ornate gilded frame was a portrait of the twins. It was so perfectly lifelike that Caroline almost mistook it for a photograph at first glance, until she looked closer and noticed Klaus's signature in black paint in the corner of the picture, a stark contrast against the white background and the pale pink and pale purple dresses Lizzie and Josie were wearing. Caroline had no idea how Klaus had convinced the two three-year-olds to put on fancy but surely uncomfortable dresses from his attic trophy case and sit still long enough for him to paint them, but she was overwhelmed by how much effort all three of them must have committed to making this gift for her.

"Klaus," Caroline whispered, nearly breathless. "This is stunning, you are so talented. I can't believe that you did this for me!"

"Really?" Klaus questioned. "You really can't believe that I had an idea for a gift I thought would make you happy and then made it a reality for you?"

"Well, when you put it like that…" Caroline moved closer to him on the bed, beaming and clasping her hands in front of her mouth.

"Thank you for my birthday presents," Caroline said, wrapping her arms around Klaus's neck and pulling him close to her, kissing him deeply.

"Your beautiful smile is all the thanks I need, my love," Klaus replied. "Now that you're finished opening your gifts, would you like to go downstairs? I'm sure the rest of the family has gifts for you as well, and I know they'd also like to wish you a happy birthday."

"But I still have one last present to open up here," Caroline insisted, smiling sweetly and batting her eyelashes.

"Do you?" Klaus asked.

Caroline nodded, biting her lip.

"And I saved the best for last," she said, running her hands down Klaus's chest to settle at his waistband, making very clear to him what 'present' she was asking for.

"The best, you say? You are as generous as you are beautiful, my love," Klaus played along. He moved his hands down under the hem of her nightgown, leaning down to press more kisses down her neck and along her collarbone. "Well, who am I to deny the birthday girl anything she wants? I did promise to make you happy every second of your birthday."

"You make me happy," Caroline insisted.

Klaus grinned, his eyes shining with love and happiness.

"I promise you that I will always do everything I can to ensure that you have whatever your heart desires," Klaus said quietly. "Whatever will make you happy, I will make sure that you have it. All you've ever had to do is ask. And how fortunate it is for me that what you've asked for is me. Well, if my queen commands it, I will be her most devoted servant."

Caroline giggled.

"I'm offended that you think that's a joke," Klaus remarked, momentarily serious. "I'm serious: anything your heart desires, it's all yours. And if what you want is to spend your birthday in bed, letting me show you how much I love you, then that is exactly what you'll get," he leaned forward again, resuming kissing Caroline's neck.

"I never said anything about spending the whole day in bed!" Caroline exclaimed. "We can't miss the surely fantastic party that you planned for me!"

"But you did say that I made you happy," Klaus shifted back so that Caroline could more easily move her hands, which were still resting on his hips. "So how about you unwrap your last present, and then let me make you happy for however long you want?"

{ }

Some time later, after Caroline was thoroughly exhausted and Klaus had accomplished his goal of covering every inch of her skin with kisses several times over, they finally got dressed and went downstairs.

"Remember what we're going to tell Mummy?" Rebekah whispered to the twins.

Caroline smiled, picturing the girls nodding enthusiastically.

When she and Klaus entered the dining room, the entire family chorused, "Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you so much, everyone!" Caroline grinned.

Lizzie and Josie ran forward.

"Happy Birthday, Mommy!" they cheered.

"Thank you, babies!" Caroline knelt to kiss the girls' cheeks. "And thank you for the present that you and Klaus made for me, I love it."

"Is it your favorite?" Josie asked.

Kol laughed.

"No, her favorite present was the birthday s-something I can't say in front of the children," Kol changed course mid-sentence as he noticed Caroline's glare.

Caroline smiled internally, since if she was completely honest, Josie and Kol were technically both right: her favorite part of her birthday so far was seeing Klaus's gentle and romantic side out at full force, and focused completely on her, for the sole purpose of making her happy. Klaus always treated her with love, respect, adoration, and tenderness that many people who knew him would be surprised to learn he possessed, but today he had been like a Prince Charming come to life, exceeding her highest expectations. He'd spent a fortune showering her with generous, thoughtful gifts; he'd held her close, touching and kissing and whispering how much he loved her against every inch of her skin, as if he considered her his own personal miracle, and if he could please her, he would be awarded the privilege of continuing to cherish her.

Josie looked at Kol, confused.

"You'll understand when you're older," Kol assured her.

"Well, I'm just glad it's over," Katherine chimed in. "I don't think I could stand to hear another minute of the romance novel that was being acted out upstairs. I really don't think she'll forget that you love her without you saying it literally every two seconds. Yes, I counted, because focusing on that was the only thing stopping me from tearing out my own ear drums."

Caroline's eyes widened.

"Um, I'm sorry?" she tried.

"Oh, honey, I'm not upset with you," Katherine replied. "It's your day, you should enjoy your birthday… something we're not allowed to say in front of the children. And I am so thrilled for you that Klaus's attitude seems to be ladies first, second, third, et cetera, I just wish that your room was soundproof, or that you'd warned us all to leave the house before you got started, so I didn't have to hear it."

"Can we talk about anything else?" Freya asked. "I love you both, but the only thing worse than overhearing you two together, is talking about overhearing you two together. And yes, even those of us without supernatural hearing were able to overhear you two together."

"Right," Klaus clapped his hands together once. "I'm sure you all have presents for my lovely birthday girl?"

"Have you given her all of your gifts already, then?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus nodded.

"Oh, I wish you hadn't," Katherine complained. "Now all of our gifts will look cheap and thoughtless compared to everything you got her. I mean, there's a car outside with a bow on it. I can't even imagine what all of your other presents were, and how much money you spent."

"It's not my fault I love Caroline the most," Klaus replied, causing Caroline to giggle at the childishness of their exchange.

As they squabbled, Hope darted forward holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"Happy Birthday, Caroline," Hope said, handing over the paper.

"Thank you, lovebug," Caroline replied.

Hope had made her a very cute birthday card. She'd drawn a woman with yellow hair, who Caroline assumed to be herself, standing next to a man with light brown hair, who Caroline assumed to be Klaus. Hope's drawing of Klaus was holding a large birthday cake with light pink icing and brighter pink candles. Next to Caroline stood three smaller figures: one with red hair, one with yellow hair, and one with brown hair.

"I love your drawing; thank you very much!"

"You're welcome," Hope replied.

"My turn!" Katherine announced.

She stepped forward with a giant, bright pink gift bag.

"Happy birthday, cupcake!"

"Thanks, Katherine."

Inside the bag was a large, gorgeous designer purse. The outside was black with a metallic finish, and the lining was bubblegum pink. It had gold hardware and enough pockets of varying sizes for Caroline to keep all of her belongings organized just how she liked them.

"I love it; thank you, Katherine!" Caroline said.

"You're welcome."

"I'll go next," Bonnie offered, handing Caroline small gift box.

She opened the box to see six tickets and six VIP passes to Taylor Swift's concert in New Orleans the following year.

"I thought that would make a fun girls' night," Bonnie explained.

"Of course, I can't wait! But Bonnie…" Caroline trailed off.

"Please don't do your 'I'm not worth you spending that much money on me' thing," Bonnie requested. "It turns out being friends with you people is good for something. I was going to buy more reasonably priced seats, but the manager of the venue upgraded us to VIP for free when he found out who the tickets were for. It's a long story. Apparently to avoid scalpers getting tickets, now you have to go to the venue to buy them in person, and provide the names of the person using each ticket. That guy heard Mikaelson and fell all over himself to give us special treatment. I'm not saying I approve of ordinary human residents of New Orleans being terrified of Klaus, but for you, my best friend, I will take advantage of it when it works in my favor."

Caroline laughed.

"Thank you, Bonnie."

"Me next!" Freya exclaimed, holding out a pink and white striped gift bag.

Caroline lifted the bright pink tissue paper out of the way and pulled out what looked like an ordinary white binder with a piece of pink paper and a gold fleur-de-lis shoved into the clear sleeve.

When she opened the binder, her eyes filled with tears as she saw what Freya's gift really was.

As a young mother with a smart phone, Caroline was constantly taking pictures of her children. Soon after their arrival in New Orleans, even the less technologically-savvy Mikaelsons had adopted the practice of taking pictures of the girls whenever they did anything that someone might want to remember later.

Freya had collected these photographs and pieced them together into a beautiful scrapbook documenting the time Caroline and her daughters had spent in New Orleans so far. She must have been working on the gift until the last minute, because the last picture, which must have been taken by Katherine, was of Josie practicing lighting candles with Davina and Kol, while Caroline and Klaus observed.

Caroline flipped through the book. Most of the pictures included the twins, and in a lot of the pictures they were accompanied by Hope, Caroline, or Klaus; but there were also pictures just of Caroline and Klaus, or of Caroline, Rebekah, and Freya, or of Caroline and Bonnie, or of all of the girls.

"This is such an amazing gift; thank you so much, Freya," Caroline said.

"You're very welcome," Freya replied. "It was a lot of fun to put it together."

"Now it's our turn," Kol announced.

Kol and Davina each handed Caroline a square box, though Kol's was larger and looked significantly heavier.

"Which one should I open first?" Caroline asked.

"This one," Kol gestured to the box he'd given her. "The other way wouldn't make sense."

Caroline carefully tore the wrapping paper off of the box, revealing what looked like a pink briefcase.

"Open it!" Kol encouraged.

"Can they see what's in here?" Caroline asked tentatively, looking at the girls.

Kol laughed.

"It is completely child-safe, I assure you," he said.

Caroline opened the briefcase, only to discover that it wasn't a briefcase at all.

It was a vintage-style record player.

"This is so cool, I've always wanted one of these!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Now open the second part," Davina urged.

Caroline opened the second box, finding a stack of records inside. There was an eclectic mix, ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf to The Beatles to Ed Sheeran's first album.

"I have this album on my phone. I wonder if it sounds better on here," Caroline mused.

"Well, you seem like the kind of girl who cries and forces her boyfriend to dance with her every time she hears 'their song,' so we thought we'd give you another medium with which do so," Kol remarked.

Caroline just stared at him. She had always thought of "Give Me Love" as her and Klaus's song, since they had danced to it at the Mikaelson family's ball. But she couldn't remember seeing Kol participate in the dance, and it never would have occurred to her that he had been paying attention to them.

"How did you remember that?" Caroline asked.

"Oh, darling, I remember more than you think," Kol smirked.

Caroline raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I don't mean any harm by it," Kol insisted. "I just meant that after a thousand years of listening to Nik rail on about how we can't care about anyone or anything, I certainly remember the first time I saw him smitten."

Caroline decided to accept his explanation.

"Enjoy your presents."

"Thank you so much for these, Kol and Davina," Caroline said.

Rebekah motioned for Elijah and Finn to step forward.

"We have to save the best for last," she insisted primly.

Elijah elected to go first, handing Caroline a small box. Inside was an elegant gold watch that had a round face about the size of a half dollar, with a pale pink background and each number labelled with Roman numerals.

"This is really pretty; thank you, Elijah," Caroline said.

"You're welcome, Caroline," Elijah replied. "A watch is a suitable gift for a young woman your age. I do hope you like it; Katerina assisted me in choosing which design you would like best."

"And you should be glad he did," Katherine cut in. "He would be lost without me."

Caroline glanced down at Elijah's own watch. It was a piece of stainless steel machinery that looked like it belonged on the wrist of a spy—very different from the delicate gold band he (well, Katherine) had chosen for her.

"Then my thanks to the both of you," Caroline responded.

"I suppose it's my turn next then," Finn stepped forward with a box wrapped in pink paper with a purple bow. "Josie insisted on adding the bow."

Caroline laughed as she took the box from him.

"Of course she did."

Inside the box was a collector's item that was surely one of a kind: a copy of _Gone with the Wind_ that had been signed by the stars of the film. Considering her rather limited interactions with Finn, Caroline was surprised by the thoughtfulness of his gift.

"Josie was exploring my bookshelf and asked what a particularly large book was. When I told her that it was _Gone with the Wind_ , she immediately recognized the title as your favorite movie. I thought this would be something you might appreciate," Finn explained.

"Wow, this is amazing," Caroline replied. "I really appreciate this, thank you, Finn."

"You're welcome," he answered shyly.

"Okay, Rebekah. We saved the best for last. Time to see if you live up to your own hype," Caroline teased.

Rebekah proudly presented Caroline with an envelope, which wasn't at all what she had been expecting.

Given how close they had become since Caroline had moved to New Orleans, she shouldn't have been surprised by the thoughtfulness of Rebekah's gift, but she was still stunned when she opened the envelope.

Pulling out a letter, she read aloud.

"Dear Ms. Mikaelson, thank you for your generous donation—Rebekah!" Caroline cried.

"Keep going," Rebekah encouraged with a smile.

"As per your stipulations, your donation will be used to build the Elizabeth Forbes Oncology Center at the Mystic Falls Hospital in Mystic Falls, Virginia."

Caroline broke down crying.

As much as she loved everything that Klaus had given her, and that the rest of her family had given her, this might be the most meaningful, heartfelt gift she had ever received.

"Okay, you win," Caroline whispered.

Rebekah laughed.

"I told you," she retorted. "I knew that Nik would never think of it, because it wasn't directly for you, and even though I knew Freya would also go for a sentimental gift, she never met your mother, so she wouldn't think of it either."

"I can't believe you did this," Caroline continued.

"Well, it's not every day your little sister turns a quarter of a century old, now is it?"

Caroline wrapped her arms around Rebekah's neck.

"Thank you, Rebekah," Caroline said. "I don't even think I can explain to you how much this means to me."

"Yeah, I love you, too," Rebekah replied.

{ }

"We were going to take you out to brunch, but you, um, slept through brunch time," Freya said.

"And we should probably start getting ready for the party soon, especially with three little ones to get ready," Rebekah added.

"All right," Caroline agreed, checking the time on her new watch. It was later in the afternoon than she'd thought. "Where do we want to set up shop?"

"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked.

"I thought that we were all getting ready together," Caroline elaborated. "Where do we want to get ready?"

"Oh, let's go to my room," Rebekah answered.

Caroline picked up her pile of gifts.

"Thank you so much, again, everyone," Caroline said. "This is already the best birthday ever, and I really appreciate how much thought and effort you've all invested in making this such a great day."

"Come on, Care," Rebekah pulled her out of the room.

Within minutes, all nine of them were crowded into Rebekah's bathroom, having hung all nine of their dresses from the curtain rod of her shower, along with six makeup bags, six hair dryers, eight curling irons of different sizes, and four flat irons that had been placed on the counter.

"Everyone, go take a nice relaxing bath and meet back here in half an hour," Rebekah ordered.

Caroline turned on the TV in her room for the girls to watch before stepping into her bathroom and turning on the faucet of the large, luxurious bathtub. While the tub was filling with water, she added some strawberry-and-vanilla-scented bubble bath, watching as pink bubbles (that actually smelled more like pink cotton candy) appeared on the surface of the water.

Caroline thoroughly washed her hair and body, shaved, and conditioned her hair, then relaxed in the warm, sweet-smelling water for the rest of the time Rebekah had allotted.

After her bath, Caroline quickly dried off then put on the strawberry-and-vanilla-scented lotion that had come in the same set as the bubble bath, which made her skin shimmer. She wore the undergarments she'd selected to wear under her dress, then threw on her pink bathrobe and matching fuzzy slippers, leaving her hair wrapped in a towel.

Collecting the girls and turning off the television on her way, she returned to Rebekah's room right before the half-hour time limit—and before Katherine, Bonnie, and Davina reappeared.

"Caroline, do the girls need baths before they get dressed?" Freya asked.

"No, the twins took their baths last night, and Hope went yesterday morning," Caroline answered. "Actually, these three are too young for makeup and curling irons, so it's probably better if they go downstairs and eat while we do our hair and makeup."

Freya nodded, and Rebekah shrugged.

"Girls, please go downstairs and have Klaus or Uncle Elijah get you a healthy snack and then send you back up here in about an hour, okay?" Caroline instructed.

The girls ran out of the room.

"So, here's the plan: nails, hair, then makeup, then we get the girls dressed, then we get dressed," Caroline listed.

Between all six of them, they must have amassed several hundred shades of nail polish, all of which were now sitting on the floor of Rebekah's massive bathroom.

"Is there a magic nail polish drying spell?" Caroline asked, only partly joking.

"I'm sure we can make that happen," Bonnie replied.

Searching through their collection, Caroline chose a shimmery, metallic light pink color that belonged to Rebekah. Rebekah selected a hot pink glitter shade that belonged to Caroline. Katherine picked a sparkly black polish of Freya's, while Davina opted for a shimmering champagne lacquer of Caroline's. Bonnie and Freya both used nail polishes that belonged to Rebekah, who had the largest collection of the six of them, with Bonnie choosing a shimmery gold and Freya selecting a muted pink shade that matched the flowers on her dress.

While they worked, they gossiped, told jokes, discussed their plans and predictions for the party, and sang along to cheerful pop songs playing from Caroline's phone.

Once they were all finished, Freya and Bonnie did use their magic to instantaneously dry all of their nail polish.

Quickly moving on to the next item on their to-do list, they enacted an organized system, in which half of the six girls sat and got their hair done by the other three girls, then they switched.

Caroline, Rebekah, and Katherine got their hair done first. Bonnie curled Caroline's hair exactly to her liking, having had years of experience helping her friend get ready for school dances. Freya passed a flat iron through Rebekah's hair until it was as smooth and shiny as glass. Davina successfully styled Katherine's long hair into her customary voluminous curls. Rebekah and Katherine both chose to leave their hair down, while Bonnie created a pretty, romantic hairstyle for Caroline that involved twisting the front sections of hair back and pinning them in place using ornate gold hair pins decorated with pink stones very similar in color to the ones on Caroline's dress.

Caroline gasped when she saw her finished hairstyle in the mirror.

"I love it! Thank you so much, Bonnie!" Caroline gushed.

"You're welcome," Bonnie replied with a smile.

When it was time to trade places, Caroline added some loose curls to Bonnie's hair before pinning her hair into an elegant bun. Rebekah used another curling iron to curl the ends of Freya's hair. Katherine bent sections of Davina's hair around a flat iron as a creative way to enhance the naturally wavy texture of her hair.

Their system fell apart somewhat when they started on makeup, since Katherine insisted on doing her makeup herself, saying she didn't trust anyone enough to let them get near her eyes with metal tools and sharp pencils.

After that, Rebekah expressed a similar desire to apply her own makeup, citing similar centuries-old trust issues.

However, Rebekah was generous enough to share her collection of purchased but not yet used makeup, which rivaled an entire department store's cosmetics section in inventory.

"I know that you've all been sworn to secrecy, but can you at least tell me if there's going to be food served at this party?" Caroline asked as she looked through all of the products. "Because it starts around dinner time, but most of us are vampires, so I'm not sure."

"Does it really matter one way or another?" Katherine stalled, tracing her lash line with black liquid eyeliner.

"It will help me decide what type of lipstick to use," Caroline replied, holding a tube of regular lipstick and a tube of liquid lipstick.

"You should probably go with the long-lasting liquid kind," Rebekah offered. "It shouldn't surprise you, or anyone, to know that there will be champagne served at the party, and you don't want your lipstick coming off on your glass."

"Okay," Caroline agreed, selecting a bubblegum pink metallic liquid lipstick.

Having gathered all of the items she needed, Caroline ventured back over to the counter, where Katherine, Rebekah, and Davina were already working on their own makeup.

Caroline used mostly her own makeup, but she had taken a lipstick, an eyeshadow, and an eyeliner from Rebekah's makeup trophy case.

Davina, who favored a natural makeup look, was already finished in the few minutes it took for Caroline to finish her face makeup.

"Davina," Caroline called out, shoving her foundation, concealer, powder, and pink blush back into her makeup bag. "If the girls come back before I'm finished with my makeup, can you just turn on the TV for them?"

"Of course," Davina nodded.

Caroline called attention to her eyes with shimmery pale pink eyeshadow, a thin line of shimmery metallic black liquid eyeliner across her top lash line, and a few coats of black mascara. She painted on the pink metallic lipstick and was finished only a few minutes after Davina.

Caroline was getting a sense of the vibe of the party from the other girls' attention to their makeup. Except for Davina, all of them were wearing glamorous, formal makeup looks that wouldn't have looked out of place at a Hollywood awards show.

Davina's minimalist makeup routine consisted of a pale taupe eyeshadow, grey eyeliner pencil blended into her lash line, and a natural shade of peachy-pink on her lips and cheeks.

Katherine was wearing her usual fierce cat eye, which had been enhanced with metallic bronze eyeshadow for the occasion. Her usual deep red lipstick had been swapped for a raspberry pink in deference to the party's color scheme.

Rebekah had drawn on winged eyeliner, but otherwise left her eye makeup simple, allowing her bright pink lipstick to steal the show.

"I feel like I should have asked before now, but who exactly is coming to this party?" Caroline asked as the other girls finished their makeup.

Freya, like Katherine, wore noticeable eyeliner every day, and so, like Katherine, she had chosen to add eyeshadow, choosing shade of dusty rose pink to make her makeup more festive. She was applying a lipstick in a similar color, gesturing to her mouth to show that she couldn't answer Caroline's question.

Bonnie had chosen a gold eyeshadow to match her dress, and was currently putting the final touches on her eyes and lips, deciding to keep the rest of her makeup relatively subdued so that the gold on her eyes would be the focus.

She caught Caroline's eye in the mirror as she applied eyeliner and shrugged.

"Well, us, of course," Rebekah answered. "Marcel, Josh, and Vincent. Various acquaintances and important figures within the city."

"Are Hayley and Jackson coming?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah winced.

"Nik says he invited them, but they decided not to come," Rebekah said. "He didn't say why. It could be that they're worried it isn't safe, or it could be that Hayley is being petty because Nik has never thrown her a birthday party. I don't know."

"So, of the unknown number of guests at my birthday party, I am going to know fifteen of them," Caroline concluded.

"Maybe?" Rebekah shrugged.

Before Caroline could answer, three sets of little footsteps echoed off the floor in the hallway.

Lizzie, Josie, and Hope pushed open the bathroom door a second later.

"Mommy, Uncle Elijah says it's been an hour," Josie said.

Caroline checked her own watch, more because the mention of Elijah reminded her of his gift than because she questioned his ability to keep time.

"So it has," Caroline agreed. "Are you girls ready to get dressed?"

All three girls nodded.

Since the dress nearest to them was Lizzie's, she got to get dressed first. She was capable of getting undressed herself, but got a little lost in the full tulle skirt once she pulled the dress over her head. Caroline helped gently tug the dress into place, then pulled up the zipper in the back.

Josie went next and ran into similar trouble, which Caroline was able to help fix.

Hope hadn't gotten a new dress for the party, instead wearing one that had been purchased months ago, but as much as Hope loved it, she hadn't had a formal enough occasion to warrant wearing such a fancy dress. It was lilac purple and decorated with green and purple butterflies, which didn't fit the color scheme of the party but was perfect for Hope.

"Now let's go pick out some shoes to wear," Caroline said, leading the girls to their own rooms. Since they were right next door, Caroline stood in the doorway of the twins' room, where she could see all three girls.

Lizzie and Josie both chose their black patent ballet flats, while Hope picked her new forest green suede Mary Janes that Hayley had just purchased for her and brought over the last time she visited.

Making a quick detour to her own room on the way back to Rebekah's, Caroline stopped to pick up the shoes, jewelry, and perfume that Klaus had given her that morning.

In the hallway, Caroline turned to face the girls.

"Since you're all ready, you can come with me back to Auntie Bekah's room or you can go downstairs and find your uncles. What do you want to do?" Caroline asked.

"Let's go find Dad," Hope proposed. "He said he might let us taste the frosting."

The twins nodded eagerly.

"Have fun, but do not give yourselves stomachaches, and do not get your dresses dirty," Caroline instructed.

The girls nodded and ran downstairs.

When Caroline returned to Rebekah's room, everyone else was already wearing their dresses and were deliberating over what shoes and accessories to wear.

Caroline rushed into the bathroom where her dress was still hanging, stepping into it and even managing to zip up the dress herself. She spun around so that she could see the dress from every angle in the mirror, loving how the pink tulle skirt flew up as she moved. She fastened the straps of her heels, clasped her diamond necklace around her neck, and hung her diamond earrings from her ears. Thanks to Klaus's eye for detail, the pink diamonds of her earrings and necklace matched the ones on her dress, shoes, and hair accessories, making her outfit look sophisticated and carefully custom-made.

When Caroline emerged from the bathroom, Bonnie, Freya, and Davina were ready, but Rebekah and Katherine were each holding three different pairs of shoes.

"You all look fantastic," Caroline complimented her friends as she went to stand next to Bonnie.

Bonnie had chosen to wear a gold necklace with a gold initial charm and simple black heels. Freya was wearing a stack of gold bangle bracelets on each wrist and black sandals with gold buckles. Davina was wearing thin, white gold hoop earrings and nude strappy sandals with her white dress.

"You look like a queen," Freya replied.

"Thank you!" Caroline grinned.

"So, how long have you three been ready?" she whispered conspiratorially.

"At least twenty minutes," Davina answered quietly.

"Caroline, which ones?" Rebekah asked, holding out three different shoes: one black, one silver, and one pink.

"I like the pink ones," Caroline responded. The pink shoes were are similar bright pink to Rebekah's lipstick and nail polish, featuring lace insets like her dress, gold zippers up the back, and shiny gold heels. Rebekah was also wearing a long gold necklace with a large heart with an arrow through it, adding to her color coordination.

"At least someone can make a decision," Katherine interjected, holding up a pair of black heels that tied on with ribbons that wrapped around her ankles.

"You're one to talk," Rebekah snapped.

"Okay, we're going to a party, let's try to get along," Freya cut in.

Rebekah and Katherine both nodded.

"Well, if we're all ready, let's go," Caroline suggested, leading the way out of the room.

{ }

The first thing she noticed was the balloons.

Surrounding the courtyard were dozens of pink, gold, and black balloons, all emblazoned with the letter C.

Upon a closer look, Caroline saw that on every flat surface, there was a bouquet of light pink roses tied with a glittery gold bow. There were gold trays holding fancy champagne flutes on round tables covered with light pink tablecloths. There was an elaborate sound system in one corner of the courtyard, with speakers strategically placed in the other three corners as well. There were pink bows and pink twinkling lights wrapped around the gate and the bannisters of both staircases.

"Wow," Caroline said. "This is really nice! Definitely more subtle than I was expecting, honestly, but I really like the flowers, and the bows, and the lights."

"Wait until you see the cake!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"Lizzie!" Josie and Hope scolded in unison.

Caroline laughed.

"I'm sure I will love the cake, honey," Caroline assured her.

"Well, what do you think?" Klaus's voice asked from behind Caroline.

"I love it!" Caroline replied happily.

"I'm glad," Klaus responded. "I thought it might be too simple, but if you like it, then that's all that matters."

"I do really like it, and I really appreciate you putting this together for me," Caroline said.

"Of course," Klaus replied. "I'd do anything for you, you know that. I have to go make sure everything is in order before the first guests arrive. Excuse me, my love."

After Klaus walked away, Davina excused herself to meet up with Kol and Katherine drifted away to find Elijah.

Caroline checked her watch again. The party was scheduled to start in fifteen minutes, though surely not all of them would arrive promptly at six o'clock.

Caroline felt one of the girls tug on her hand to get her attention.

"Is my mom coming?" Hope asked.

"I don't think so," Caroline answered.

Then a frightening thought occurred to her.

"Klaus isn't going to start some supernatural civil war with this party, is he?" Caroline asked.

"How do you mean?" Rebekah asked.

"Well, if everyone from the council except the werewolf representatives are here, that might be seen as an insult to the werewolf community," Caroline theorized. "Come to think of it, did Klaus invite any werewolves to this party?"

Rebekah shrugged.

"Hayley and Jackson were invited, they just chose not to come," Rebekah pointed out. "If the wolves have a problem with that, they should take it up with their leaders. It isn't your fault."

Freya looked like she at least took the possibility of discontent seriously.

"It might not be a problem, but I'll keep an eye out for any disgruntled werewolf party crashers," she offered.

"I hope you aren't talking about me, because I was invited," a voice announced from behind them.

Caroline turned around to see Josh and his boyfriend Aiden approaching them.

"Happy birthday, Caroline," Josh said, pulling her in to a friendly hug, then handing her a pink gift bag.

"Thank you! And thank you for coming!" Caroline replied.

Josh and Aiden politely greeted the rest of the group, both calling Hope "Obi Wan," which put a smile on her face despite her mother's absence.

"She's been asking Klaus to show her that movie ever since you told her about it. We're all going to have to draw straws or something to decide who will buy her a lightsaber for her birthday," Caroline muttered.

Josh laughed.

"If we don't, she'll end up with twelve of them," he agreed.

Caroline started to open the gift bag that Josh had given her when he interjected with a self-deprecating remark.

"I mean, it's nothing compared to the car—and everything else—that Klaus bought you."

"Is that thing still out there?" Caroline asked.

"Massive pink bow and all," Josh confirmed.

"He's such a show-off, I'm sorry," Caroline responded. "I really appreciate your gift."

"You haven't even opened it yet," Josh pointed out.

Caroline finished opening the bag, pulling out a nice bottle of wine, some scented candles, bubble bath, and a pink sleep mask that read "beauty sleep in progress."

"Thank you!" Caroline exclaimed.

"We figured that with three kids, Klaus, and Kol, you could use some relaxation," Josh explained.

Caroline laughed and thanked him again.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the potential werewolf problem you were talking about earlier? Maybe I can help," Aiden asked.

"Hopefully, it's nothing, I just wanted to make sure that Klaus hadn't offended the werewolf community by not inviting any of them to the party, especially since Hayley and Jackson declined their invitation," Caroline explained.

"Well, first of all, Klaus invited at least one of us, because I'm here, and secondly, I don't know why Hayley and Jackson aren't here, but no one is going to blame you for that," Aiden replied. "They're adults who can decide for themselves whether or not to go to a party without it being an affront to our entire species."

"Told you," Rebekah boasted.

Caroline ignored her.

"Thank you for your insight, Aiden. I'm not completely certain that no one got their feelings hurt, but I feel more at ease now, so thank you," Caroline replied.

"You're welcome," Aiden answered. "I think we're going to go get a drink and let you greet some of your other guests, so we'll see you around."

"Of course, thank you for coming! Have fun!" Caroline said.

She put all of her gifts back in the bag and set the bag down on a nearby empty table, claiming it as her gift table.

The sound system started playing a playlist of popular modern pop songs, signaling the official start of the party.

Caroline glanced around the courtyard. The first guests were starting to arrive, but other than Josh and Aiden, she didn't see any familiar faces.

"Where is everyone?" Caroline asked. "I don't see Klaus, or Katherine and Elijah, or Kol and Davina, or Finn."

"I'm here," Klaus snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I can't say where Katerina and Elijah are, or Kol and Davina, but I know that my anti-social brother is upstairs and will appear for cake, then retreat back to his room."

"Cake?" Lizzie perked up. "When are we having cake?"

Klaus let go of Caroline in favor of picking Lizzie up.

"Not for a while yet. You have to be patient, princess," Klaus told her.

"But I want cake," Lizzie pouted.

"I know you do, but other people want cake too, and it isn't fair to them to serve cake before they get here," Klaus said. "We have to do the nice thing and share."

"I don't like sharing," Lizzie whined, burying her face in Klaus's shoulder.

Caroline had to laugh at the idea of her daughter, who had shared everything with her twin since they'd shared her womb, insisting that she didn't like sharing. And then she had to laugh again at the idea of Klaus being the one telling her that she had to share because it was 'the nice thing' to do.

"Well, that looks like the picture of a happy family," Marcel's arrival captured their attention.

"Hi, Marcel, thank you for coming," Caroline greeted him.

"Thank you for existing and for inviting me to come celebrate your existence," Marcel replied smoothly. "Happy Birthday, Caroline."

"Thank you, Marcel."

"And this is for you," Marcel handed over a large gold gift bag with pink tissue paper spilling out of it.

"Thank you," Caroline replied, pulling out the tissue paper so that she could see Marcel's gift.

In the bag was a pink tee-shirt that read "I [heart] NOLA," a small white teddy bear wearing a tee-shirt that said "I [heart] NOLA," a postcard with a picture of the Mardi Gras parade that read "Greetings from New Orleans," a pink reusable water bottle and a pink pen, each with "New Orleans, Louisiana" written across it in white script, an "I [heart] NOLA" refrigerator magnet, keychain, mousepad, and coffee mug, along with dozens of Mardi Gras beads in every color lining the bottom of the bag.

"I didn't think anyone had given you the official 'Welcome to New Orleans' gift set yet," Marcel explained.

Caroline smiled. She knew that this gift wasn't just about giving her souvenirs, or about officially welcoming her to the city. This was Marcel's apology for the way he had treated her when she had first come to the city, and his way of making sure she knew that he was glad that she was there.

"Thank you," Caroline said.

"You're welcome," Marcel replied. He looked over at Lizzie, still clinging to Klaus. "Now, what's got this little princess pouting?"

"She wants cake," Klaus answered.

Marcel chuckled.

"And having to wait to have cake seems like the end of the world when you're three?" he guessed.

"And a half," Josie corrected.

"Right, my mistake, three-and-a-half," Marcel said.

"There you are, I'm glad I caught up to you," Vincent told Marcel as he approached.

"Happy birthday, Caroline," Vincent told her. "Eva was a little wary of coming here, and she wasn't sure that you all would be comfortable seeing her here, given the circumstances, but she asked me to pass along her birthday wishes."

"Thank you, Vincent," Caroline replied. "But you, and Eva, should know that we don't blame her for anything that Esther did while she was possessing her. I would happily welcome her here, although I'm not sure that the twins are old enough to understand the situation."

Vincent nodded.

"Of course, I wouldn't expect three-year-olds to be able to wrap their heads around the idea of possession."

"And a half!" Josie repeated.

"I beg your pardon?" Vincent asked her.

"We're three-and-a-half," Josie insisted.

Vincent glanced at Caroline.

"The half is a really big deal at their age," Caroline tried to explain.

"If you say so," Vincent acquiesced.

"Right, I almost forgot, here, this is for you," Vincent held out an envelope. "Happy birthday."

Vincent and Eva had gotten her four tickets to a local theater company's production of _A Streetcar Named Desire_ the following month.

"Thank you, Vincent! I'm so excited to see the show!" Caroline exclaimed.

"You're welcome," Vincent replied, before he and Marcel excused themselves and melted into the growing crowd.

"There are so many people here," Caroline commented. "And I know hardly any of them."

"You are beloved by the city, my love," Klaus told her. "Everyone wanted to come celebrate you."

Caroline could have sworn she saw Rebekah roll her eyes in response to Klaus's ability to turn every conversation into an opportunity to compliment Caroline.

"You know, you don't have to hover around me for the whole party," Caroline told Rebekah, Freya, and Bonnie. "I mean, if you meet a celebrity, or your soulmate, then I'd like to hear about it, but don't feel like you have to stand next to me and hold my hand if that would cramp your style."

All three of them agreed to reconvene when cake was served. Freya took Bonnie to introduce her to some witch acquaintances, while Rebekah set her sights on a tall, blonde who reminded Caroline of Matt with his all-American good looks.

After almost an hour-and-a-half of mingling, and several glasses of champagne later, Caroline was getting tired of accepting birthday wishes and making polite small talk with people who she didn't know, and was fairly certain that they had only come to her party because they were scared of Klaus.

"It's time to bring out the cake," Klaus announced.

"Cake!" Lizzie cheered.

Klaus darted into the kitchen and returned holding a huge three-tier cake covered with light pink frosting and decorated with roses made out of pink frosting and sprinkles designed to look like small pink pearls circling the base of every layer. Twenty-five bright pink candles had been pressed into the top layer of the cake in the shape of a letter C.

"The cake is pretty," Lizzie said, her eyes wide.

"The cake is pretty," Caroline agreed.

"Are you ready, Josie?" Klaus asked.

Josie nodded.

Before Caroline could even ask what Josie would need to be ready for, all twenty-five candles were lit.

"Make a wish, Mommy!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Caroline looked around at her family, all smiling at her. She couldn't think another thing that she could ask for to make her life happier or more complete.

So she wished for a year full of as much happiness as she felt at that moment, then blew out her candles. Everyone cheered, and Lizzie asked excitedly if that meant she could finally have some cake.

Klaus chuckled.

"Let's give your mom the first slice of cake because it's her birthday, and then you can have the next one," Klaus proposed.

Lizzie agreed, and happily accepted the second piece of cake.

Caroline wondered how one cake could possibly feed all of the people in attendance, but somehow they made it work.

After the girls finished their cake (with more frosting ending up smeared across their faces than in their mouths), Caroline stood to take them to the bathroom to clean up.

"No, it's your birthday, I'll take care of these messy monsters," Rebekah offered.

Caroline relented and thanked her.

As Klaus had predicted, Finn snuck back upstairs after he finished his cake. Kol and Davina slipped away as well shortly thereafter, as did Katherine and Elijah. Josh and Aiden left in search of more champagne for all of them, promising to be right back. Freya and Bonnie were deep in conversation with Vincent, and Klaus pulled Marcel away from the crowd to have some semblance of privacy for their discussion.

Caroline looked around the courtyard. Some people had already come and gone, but many were still enjoying the party.

"Happy birthday, Caroline," a young woman she had never met before said.

"Thank you," Caroline replied.

"I love your dress, where did you get it?" the woman asked.

"Oh, thank you, it was a birthday gift from my boyfriend," Caroline answered.

"That's so crazy," the woman said. "That Klaus Mikaelson, Original Hybrid, who the whole world is terrified of, is someone's boyfriend, who buys his girlfriend a dress to wear to her birthday party. Did he buy you that car that's parked out front, too?"

"Yes," Caroline admitted, rolling her eyes. "He isn't very subtle, is he?"

"He just really loves you, and wants to make you happy," the woman concluded. "Anyway, I was on my way out, actually, I just wanted to make sure I got to wish you a happy birthday before I left, otherwise what's the point of coming to your birthday party?"

"Thank you for coming," Caroline smiled. "Let me walk you out, then, if you're leaving."

The woman smiled in response.

Once they passed through the gate, Caroline said goodbye and turned to go back inside.

"I'm really sorry about this, but I had no choice," the woman's voice came from right behind her.

Caroline felt hands press against each side of her head, then everything went black.

{ }

When Caroline regained consciousness, she was tied to a chair in the middle of a circle of lit candles. Caroline looked up to see Esther Mikaelson, who hadn't changed since the last time she'd seen her back in Mystic Falls—the honey-blond hair, the deceptively kind eyes, the natural grace and style of a movie star from the Golden Age of Hollywood—standing in front of her, looking at her searchingly.

"What's happening?" Caroline asked groggily. "What are you doing? Where am I?"

Caroline started to struggle against the ropes holding her to the chair, but it was in vain. She couldn't get free.

"Caroline, I am afraid you are but one-third of my leverage against Niklaus," Esther sounded almost reluctant, even perhaps a little apologetic.

"What are the other two-thirds?" Caroline asked warily.

As she finished asking the question, two of Esther's accomplices brought in a struggling Hope, her wrists bound behind her back, and tied her to a chair as well, though they didn't place candles around her like they had with Caroline.

"Caroline?" Hope's little voice searched.

"I'm here, baby," Caroline answered, tearing up at the fear in the girl's voice. "I'm going to make sure you get out of here safely, okay?"

Caroline didn't see how she would manage it, but she was going to try.

Looking around the dark, barren room that they were in, Caroline couldn't see anything that she might be able to use as a weapon. In fact, she didn't see anything at all. She couldn't see the walls or the ceiling, or any furniture, or any identifying features that would help her to figure out where they were.

"That's what I'm counting on, actually," Esther said ominously.

"What do you want? She's a little girl who's never hurt anyone! She can't help who her parents are," Caroline argued.

"She is an abomination, Caroline!" Esther insisted. "The daughter of a hybrid and a werewolf, a first-born Mikaelson with all the power that comes with that role, half-werewolf and half-witch! She violates every rule of nature!"

"That isn't her fault!" Caroline shot back. "Wait. If you think Hope is such an abomination, why are you counting on me trying to save her?"

"I am taking precautions to ensure that you don't," Esther answered. "However, my plan is largely reliant on your pure heart and your willingness to sacrifice to protect those you view as innocent and worth saving."

"You're using both of us to lure Klaus here," Caroline remembered. "But what does that have to do with me wanting to save Hope? You know he'll try to save us both."

"Exactly," Esther said. "And when he tries, he will be forced to choose between you."

"And I will insist that he choose to save Hope," Caroline finished.

"Very good, dear," Esther replied in a motherly fashion that sounded out of place for a witch who was plotting to kill her granddaughter. "But you've forgotten the other part of the plan to lure Niklaus here."

Caroline shut her eyes and tried to focus.

"I'm one-third of your leverage against him," Caroline said. "And Hope is another third. But who's the last?"

"The lesser of two evils," Esther answered vaguely. "Something he won't be able to resist."

The witch moved over to a table Caroline hadn't seen before, which was stocked with ingredients for a spell, but Caroline couldn't tell what it was that Esther was planning.

Esther picked up an herb and burned it over one of the candles in front of Caroline.

"You will always sacrifice yourself for the people you love," Esther told her. "You believe, that as a vampire, you are strong enough to take care of yourself, and so you would prefer that others use their energies to help those who are less self-sufficient."

"That sounds accurate," Caroline responded uncertainly.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the process that some women, often those dedicated to their careers, use to extend their childbearing years, which, in layman's terms, would be referred to as freezing their eggs?" Esther asked.

Her change of subject left Caroline momentarily confused.

"Well, yeah, but I don't see how that's relevant," Caroline answered.

"That process is essentially what happened to you when you became a vampire," Esther informed her. "Your genetic material remains intact, but your immortal body, frozen forever in the moment in which you died, no longer operates according to a monthly cycle of fertility. You are the only vampire to ever give birth, proving that it is possible for a vampire to carry a child to term."

"Are you trying to tell me that I can have children who are biologically mine?" Caroline asked.

"I am not only telling you that you can, but that you will," Esther announced. "Approximately nine months from today."

"What?" Caroline stuttered, unable to force a more coherent thought out of her mouth.

"The spell I am about to do is a relatively straightforward fertility spell," Esther explained. "Once I perform the spell on you, your eggs, which were frozen upon your transition into a vampire, will become viable once more for a short time. And since I was able to determine while you were unconscious that you were with Niklaus within the last twenty-four hours, one of those eggs will immediately be fertilized, and you will become pregnant."

Caroline was stunned. Under any other circumstances, Caroline would have been thrilled to be pregnant with Klaus's child. In fact, once she escaped this place and Esther was defeated, Caroline would be thrilled to be pregnant with Klaus's child. But she hated the idea of Esther creating a child within her for the sole purpose of using it against them.

"You can't do that!" Caroline exclaimed. "And why would you even want to? If you think Hope is such an abomination in violation of all of nature's rules, why would you want Klaus to have another child?"

"This one I can control," Esther replied in a vacant, ethereal voice. "I have seen her, Caroline. She is beautiful."

"It's a girl? How do you know that the hypothetical baby you want to impregnate me with is a girl already?" Caroline asked, perplexed.

"I am a witch, I am creating this child using magic, of course I can see what she looks like," Esther answered. "She is the most beautiful child I have ever seen, Caroline. She has perfect ringlets the color of spun gold, and stunning grey eyes that almost look like silver, and charming dimples, and full, pink lips the color of rose petals, and a sweet round face. Don't you want to meet her?"

"Of course," Caroline breathed out, enchanted by the idea of her and Klaus's daughter, a girl whose beauty captivated even the Original Witch. "She looks like him, doesn't she?"

"She has his curly hair, and dimples, and his lips, but she has your nose, your eyebrows, your cheerful smile. She's the perfect mix of the two of you, I would say," Esther encouraged.

"Why do you want her to exist then?" Caroline asked. "I know why I want her to exist, but why do you? You say you can control her, but what are you going to do?"

"This child will not be a first-born Mikaelson, which makes her significantly less powerful than Hope," Esther explained. "Any child born of my line, especially one of my own magical creation, will be a witch, but none as powerful as a first-born. Nor will this child have Hope's ability to become a hybrid or to create hybrids. She will be a beautiful girl, and a gifted witch, but that's all. I can live with that if I must."

Esther raised her arms in front of her and began chanting. The flames of the candles surrounding Caroline rose, and Caroline instinctively wrapped her arms around her stomach.

Her gesture didn't do any good. There was a strange twinge inside her, that had she not been sitting still and anticipating the spell, she likely wouldn't even have noticed. She'd been anticipating pain, but after that brief sensation, which had barely felt uncomfortable, let alone painful, Caroline didn't feel anything.

A few minutes later, Esther announced, "It is done."

Caroline could feel that it was done. Somehow, even though the baby was just a few cells at that point, she could feel a difference in who she was before the spell was performed and who she was now.

"While we're on the subject of the advancements that the scientists of your time have made," Esther commented casually, as if she hadn't just changed Caroline's life forever. "You might also be interested to know that scientists can now locate and identify individual genes in a person's DNA. These scientists can look for specific genes that parents don't want to pass on to their children; genes for an inherited condition, for example."

"Klaus's werewolf gene," Caroline whispered.

"Yes. You are quite clever, dear," Esther answered with a smile that seemed far too friendly for a witch who had just created a life for the sole purpose of manipulating her son. "When I performed the spell to bind Niklaus's werewolf nature, we had no knowledge of genes. All I knew was that my son was part wolf, and I needed that part to disappear. With Niklaus, as would also be the case with Hope, there was no way to eliminate this side of him, all I could do was hide it. But now I know that what makes a person a werewolf is one microscopic piece of genetic material that they inherit from a parent. Or both parents, in Hope's case."

"If I told you that there was a way now, to eliminate your child's werewolf side, would you consider it?" Esther asked. "Think about it, Caroline. You'll have your hands full with one aggressive, moody teenage girl with an untriggered werewolf curse, do you really want a second? Do you really want your child with Niklaus to have anything in common with his accident with Hayley?"

"Don't talk about her like that!" Caroline exclaimed. "And don't mess with my baby's DNA!"

"Careful now, Caroline," Esther warned. "I have tried to be kind to you, the mother of my perfect, beautiful granddaughter. I would rather have your cooperation; it will make this much easier. But as I'm sure you've noticed, you aren't really in any position to fight me, now are you?"

"What do you even want to do to me?" Caroline asked.

"To you, nothing. To the child, I will simply extract the werewolf gene. I'm sure you have seen a summoning spell in action before. It should work nicely here, now that I can easily isolate and remove this unsavory part of her genetic makeup. Removing the werewolf gene from every copy of DNA from every one of Niklaus's or Hope's trillions of cells would be impossible, but if I work quickly, I can remove the werewolf gene Niklaus would have passed on to this baby before the DNA is copied and cells start multiplying. It shouldn't hurt you at all, and the child will never know any different. You're probably better off never telling the child that she ever had a werewolf gene at all."

Caroline couldn't even respond before Esther was chanting again.

For a moment, Caroline felt nothing. She almost believed that Esther had, in this one instance, been telling the truth when she said that it would hurt. Then she felt a sharp pain, like a needle, rip through her stomach for the briefest of seconds before it was gone.

And so was a fraction of her baby's identity.

"And now we wait," Esther said, walking away, sitting down, and picking up a book to read.

"How are you hanging in there, Hope?" Caroline asked the girl tied up next to her.

"I'm okay," Hope answered. "Are you really having a baby?"

"Apparently so," Caroline replied. "How do you feel about that?"

"I hope I'll be a good big sister," Hope said quietly.

"You already are," Caroline told her.

"Are we going to be okay?" Hope asked. "All three of us?"

"We're going to be fine," Caroline tried to reassure her. "Your dad is going to come save us. I told you I would make sure you got out of here safely, remember?"

"But what about you and the baby?" Hope cried.

That was when Caroline realized Esther's plan. She had never intended to make Klaus choose between his daughter and the love of his life. Her plan was to force him to choose between his children. Caroline was just the incentive for Klaus to choose the baby, to go along with what Esther wanted him to do, and Esther knew just as well as Caroline did, that if Klaus ignored his feelings and his humanity, allowing his inner strategist to make the decision, it was clear that the better choice was the one that would save two lives rather than just one. Esther's cruel plan not only sought to kill Hope, but also would cripple Klaus with guilt for, in his mind at least, allowing her to be killed.

"You're twisted," Caroline called out to Esther.

"Have you figured out my plan then, dear?" Esther asked casually.

"It isn't going to work," Caroline said, trying to project confidence she didn't feel. "Klaus is going to come rescue us, and the only person he'll have to choose whether they live or die is you."

"Niklaus cannot kill me," Esther waved off Caroline's threat.

"Why not?" Caroline challenged.

"Because my life is linked to Hope's," Esther informed her.

But how? Shouldn't Hope's necklace protect her from a linking spell? Looking over at Hope more carefully, Caroline quickly noticed two things: Hope's necklace was missing, and there was a bandage across her left hand. Whoever had kidnapped Hope from the party had removed her necklace, either deliberately or as a result of them picking her up and dragging her away. Then they'd taken her blood to do the spell, which Caroline remembered wouldn't be protected by the necklace. Physical harm, such as cutting Hope's hand to take some of her blood, didn't fall under the purview of the amulet's protection.

She remembered that the bracelet Klaus had given her that morning was enchanted with similar protection. She couldn't see the bracelet with her wrists bound, but she couldn't feel the comforting weight of the metal against the skin of her arm, so she could only assume that her bracelet was missing as well.

Caroline moved her head slightly. She could still feel the earrings and necklace she'd worn to the party. She and Hope were both still wearing the dresses and shoes they were wearing earlier as well. Esther hadn't removed their jewelry because she was greedy, or changed their outfits to try to be more inconspicuous. She had known that they each had jewelry that was enchanted with a protection spell and had removed it so that it couldn't interfere with her plans.

"Of course it is," Caroline sighed. "But that doesn't matter. Do you really think Klaus isn't prepared for that? He will always be two steps ahead of you. He probably knew that you were going to link yourself to Hope before you performed the spell. And it isn't like Klaus doesn't have any witches on his side who can break the link."

"You seem awfully angry at me, considering that I gave you a treasure you thought you would never have," Esther said, Caroline's threats having appeared to have had no effect on her. "You might even call it a very generous birthday present."

"I'm not going to just sit back and let you kill Hope just because you got me pregnant," Caroline shook her head at the strange words she'd just said. "I'm not going to trade one daughter for another. That's not how being a parent works."

"But Hope isn't your daughter, Caroline," Esther reminded her. "Hope is Hayley's daughter. Have you honestly never thought about sending her away, getting rid of her, so that you would be the only mother in Niklaus's life? Think about it. If Hope is gone, then Hayley is out of your life for good as well."

"I'm not going to let you kill an innocent child just because her mother and I haven't always gotten along," Caroline insisted. "And I don't think you want to kill her either."

"Have you not been listening? She is an abomination and she must be stopped!" Esther said.

"If you really wanted to hurt her, you would have done it already," Caroline reasoned. "You could have done it while I was unconscious, but you didn't. It's more important to you to punish Klaus for this magical loophole that allowed him to create Hope—which he didn't even know about, so it wasn't his fault—than it is for you to actually eliminate this abomination, as you claim. You want him to see her die more than you actually want her to die."

"Niklaus is an abomination as well," Esther admitted. "And he killed me, on multiple occasions. I think that I am justified in wanting to see him suffer for the many sins he has committed."

There was no saving or reasoning with Esther. She was determined to kill Hope, and to do so while Klaus was watching so that she could manipulate him into thinking that it was his fault his daughter had died, overwhelming him with grief and guilt.

Caroline didn't know how long it had been since she was kidnapped, but she knew that the moment Klaus had noticed she'd disappeared, he would be looking for her. Once he noticed that Hope was gone as well, he would assume that they were together. Freya, Bonnie, Davina, or the twins could easily do a locator spell to find Hope using Klaus's blood.

It wouldn't be long before Klaus arrived with the rest of the family in tow.

But if she could free herself before he got there, he wouldn't have to choose.

She pulled on the ropes holding her in place. They were soaked in vervain, and Caroline almost laughed at the coincidence—when Klaus's witch had kidnapped her to use her in the sacrifice, she'd been restrained using vervain ropes as well.

No one was going to be sacrificed this time.

Her ankles had been tied to the legs of the chair, and her wrists had been tied to each arm. Unlike Hope, who had been conscious when she'd been brought there, whoever had taken her hadn't had to tie her wrists together to restrain her on the way over. Esther's lackeys had tied her unconscious body to the chair, not thinking that she would be a threat, and still probably wouldn't be one when she woke up.

Caroline had learned early in her life as a vampire that one of her greatest assets in a fight was when her opponents underestimated her.

The vervain around her wrists and ankles made her skin feel like it was on fire. Caroline thought back to Alaric's evil alter ego's assessment of the vervain-soaked gag he'd tortured her with: it was like inhaling razor blades. This felt like her skin was covered in paper cuts and then submerged in lemon juice—like acid was burning and eating away at her skin. Trying to take the ropes off would cause her even more pain, which would slow her down. She'd never get herself free, let alone herself and Hope, before she got caught.

Fortunately, there was another way. It would be risky and challenging, and would require more chutzpah than she'd ever possessed before, but it was the only way to save them.

She sent up a desperate plea for good fortune and a silent apology to her little girls—the one inside her and the one beside her—and one last prayer that her crazy plan might work.

Sneaking a glance at Esther, who was still engrossed in her reading, Caroline snapped off the arm of the wooden chair she was tied to as quietly as she could. She let gravity pull the piece of wood to the ground, and without it, the ropes were loose enough that they fell off.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Caroline repeated the process on her other arm.

Once she'd freed both her arms, Caroline was able to stand up and lift the chair, pulling the front legs of the chair up and out from under the rope tying her to the chair, then quietly set the chair back down on the ground.

Yanking the ropes off of her ankles, Caroline rushed over to Hope and untied her as well. Since Hope wasn't a vampire, her ropes weren't soaked in vervain, making it exponentially easier for Caroline to free her.

Shocked that they hadn't been caught, Caroline picked up Hope and carefully tiptoed towards the nearest wall of the nondescript room that they were in, looking for a way out.

Caroline heard footsteps, at least a dozen sets of footsteps, racing along the other side of the wall.

Her search for a door ended abruptly when she heard one being pushed open harshly.

"Good, you've arrived, now we can proceed," Esther greeted warmly, as if she was hosting a tea party.

Caroline tensed for a fraction of a second. What if Esther was greeting an accomplice? What if Klaus hadn't been able to find them?

"Whatever game you're playing, it ends now, Esther."

Caroline almost fainted from relief.

"I told you your daddy would come save us," she whispered to Hope, and to the baby.

* * *

Please Read!

So, some of you may not love how Caroline got pregnant. Trust me, I think it would have been lovely if it had worked out with Klaus and Caroline deciding that they wanted to have a child together, Esther (or witch equally as powerful) doing a fertility spell at their request, Klaus and Caroline having sex (with candles and rose petals, of course, all very romantic) while the fertility spell was in effect, and Caroline becoming pregnant.

Unfortunately, that scenario isn't realistic or in character for anyone in this story. I agonized over how to write this, and after weeks of consideration, I came to the conclusion that this was actually the best way I could think of to have this situation play out.

Please remember that Esther is the villain, and she's a control freak (I think her literally ripping the baby's werewolf gene out of her DNA is proof enough that she's an evil mastermind trying to control every aspect of this child and eliminate everything she doesn't like). She isn't trying to help Caroline have a baby out of the goodness of her heart because she knows how much she wants one—she's creating the baby to have something to force Klaus's hand. It would be wildly unrealistic and out of character for Esther to do a fertility spell on Caroline, then send her home to make a baby within a certain time frame. Caroline would just refuse, and Esther would never willingly hand over control of the situation to Caroline. Even if Esther performed the spell without Caroline's knowledge, she couldn't know for certain that a baby would be conceived during the time when the spell was in effect.

On the chapter in which Caroline was kidnapped, I received a review asking if the witches who kidnapped her (remember, you all didn't know who they were then) had used their magic to resurrect Caroline's reproductive system while she was unconscious, and if she would get pregnant soon. The question was totally valid, but the idea of them doing that to Caroline while she had no idea it was happening made me really uncomfortable, especially since when Caroline got pregnant with the twins, it was without her knowledge or her consent. I thought that it was important for Caroline to know what was happening, which is why Esther explains her evil scheme. I also wanted to avoid the 'operating under the assumption that it's impossible to conceive a child, only to find out later that it actually is possible, and we know that for sure because it happened' premise that we already saw with Hayley's pregnancy with Hope.

I tried to make it very, very clear that Caroline loves the idea of having a baby with Klaus (hence their conversation in chapter twenty-nine), and that she wants and loves this baby, and that she's even happy to be pregnant—she just isn't thrilled that Esther only gave her this gift (and Caroline does see the baby as a gift) as a way to manipulate Klaus.

Also, the baby is a girl! I'd love to know how many of you predicted that. The baby being a girl was the one thing about this child that I knew from the beginning and never wavered on. The first reason for that is I just really wanted Klaus and Caroline to have another daughter, as simple and shallow as that reason is, but it's my story and I can include things that are just wish fulfilment on my part if I want to.

Another reason is that Esther created the baby as a 'replacement' for Hope that she could control, plus, like Klaus has thought of Lizzie as a sort of do-over for Rebekah in the past, Esther also sees this baby as a do-over for Freya, the daughter that was taken away from her. While there are some obvious differences, the situations sort of parallel each other, with Esther playing Dahlia's role, Caroline playing Esther's, and the baby, like Freya, as the innocent pawn in a manipulative witch's scheme.

I also took into account criticism of _The Originals_ for prioritizing Hope, Klaus's biological daughter, over Marcel, Klaus's adopted son, as if Hope is more Klaus's child, which perpetuates harmful misconceptions and stereotypes about adoption (and, of course, we can't forget the heinous racism of this choice, either). Hope receiving more of Klaus's attention and affection could have innocent explanations: she's still very young, she's mortal, even she's a daddy's little girl. Even after the first explanation is no longer relevant, and even if—someday—the second explanation is no longer relevant, she's always going to be daddy's little girl, especially since it would surprise no one if thousand-year-old Klaus held some antiquated double-standards with regards to daughters and sons. I didn't even want to consider how hurtful it would be to Marcel to see himself 'replaced' as Klaus's son in a similar 'young biological child seems more important/loved than the adult adopted child' situation, since they've both worked so hard over the course of this story to make progress in their relationship. I referenced this somewhat in Chapter Twenty-Nine, when Klaus tells Caroline that if he had another son, he could prove to himself, his father, and his son that he is capable of being a good father to a son, and while that's a noble goal, it also seems selfish (since Mikael is dead and Marcel is an adult who has made clear over the course of the series that he doesn't really want Klaus back in his life as a father figure, and whose relationship with him in this story is closer to trusted allies/close friends—brothers in arms, if you will—than father and son, so it would really just be Klaus proving it to himself), and would require an impressive amount of emotional maturity from Marcel for him to be happy that his brother has the good father he's always wanted, rather than being envious of him because he never had it. I hope this makes sense; writing my thoughts on this idea into a coherent explanation was challenging (I've rewritten this several times now, and the more I write, the less sense it makes, I'm so sorry).

Other reasons include an analysis that one of my beloved regular reviewers Artemis shared with me that concluded that an overwhelming majority of male characters on TV recently (examples included Chuck on _Gossip Girl_ and Francis on _Reign_ ) have sons. Also, a reviewer implied that Klaus deserved a son as a reward after having three daughters/stepdaughters, which made me feel a little uncomfortable, since I don't see having girls as a punishment for him. Another reviewer requested a boy to 'carry on the family name,' which is sort of unnecessary since almost all of the Mikaelsons are immortal, and I imagine that even if the female members of the family got married, they would keep their name, just because of the power and prestige associated with being a Mikaelson. Plus, I thought it was an interesting foil to Hope: Klaus has one daughter who was seen as his only 'hope' for redemption/salvation from the time her family found out about her existence, and one daughter who was literally created to be his ruin (don't worry, her name is not going to be Ruin).

I'm sorry that I can't please everyone; I really wish that I could make everyone happy with every chapter and storyline that I write, though I know that isn't possible. I hope that knowing what I was thinking when I wrote this chapter helps you to understand why I made the choices that I did in writing this storyline. Still, if you have any questions, comments, or complaints about these choices, I would be happy to hear them and respond to them.

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	35. Chapter XXXV: Life of the (Search) Party

Hello lovely readers! Happy Fourth of July!

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter, and thank you for your lovely birthday wishes! (:

A particular eager review I received yesterday ordered me to update (though I had already planned to update today), so here you go!

Since more than one of you wondered, Klaus and Caroline are not going to have another baby after this one. And I want to make very clear, once again, that Klaus and Caroline are going to love their baby no matter what—Esther's manipulation of the situation will not make them love her any less, regardless of whether or not she has a werewolf gene.

Also, I love all of your hatred towards Esther (especially since you don't seem to hate me for making her so hateful).

So, remember all the way back in chapter four, when Klaus heard that Caroline and the twins had come to rescue him, and you were all looking forward to seeing their reunion, but chapter five was Caroline's search for Klaus from her point of view? I'm doing that again here. This chapter is not the confrontation between the Mikaelsons and Esther, it shows what the Mikaelsons are doing during the last section of the previous chapter, which I thought was important to show.

This chapter is considerably shorter than last chapter, but last chapter was over 15,000 words (which was originally how long I thought the epilogue would be, but there's no way I can contain everything I want to include to that limit).

As short as this chapter is, I worry that it's too wordy for the amount of time it takes place in. Please note that: the characters can talk and think more quickly than I can write and you can read; I included periodic reminders of how much time has passed; and I don't think it's unreasonable to want to have some semblance of a plan when confronting the Original Witch, or to not want to leave two three-year-olds home alone.

Happy reading!

* * *

Klaus was listening to Marcel tell him about a potential situation with the New Orleans witches when Rebekah returned with the twins.

"Where's Hope?" Klaus asked.

"She had to go to the bathroom," Rebekah explained. "I told her to meet us here when she was finished."

"Marcel was just telling me about a potential situation that involves Hope," Klaus mentioned.

"Okay, and what is that?" Rebekah asked.

"Some of the witches have asked Vincent to give them information regarding Hope's magical abilities," Marcel answered. "They know that she's the daughter of the Original hybrid and the Alpha of the Crescent Wolf Pack, the most powerful witch to ever live, and the only ever 'tribrid,' if that's the term we're using to describe her, but I guess they want to know more. The vampires respect Hope as Klaus's daughter, but because she hasn't turned, they don't see her as one of them. To the werewolves, she's the daughter of their queen, and they would all do anything for their princess. But the witches are curious about what she can do. They feel honor-bound to protect the city, and they worry that someone with as much power as Hope has could be a threat."

"Can we ever just deal with one crisis at a time?" Rebekah asked rhetorically. "Tell any witches that if they have a problem with my niece that can get in line behind our mother."

Klaus had to agree with Rebekah. He knew that his daughter had inherited all of his enemies, and he'd anticipated that she would acquire a few more of her own because of who she was and how unique she was within the supernatural world, but he hated that Hope had already spent so much of her young life under attack.

"How did Vincent respond to their request?" Klaus asked Marcel.

"He told them that Hope is five, and that they need to reconsider a few things if they're actually planning to challenge a five-year-old girl," Marcel answered.

Klaus and Rebekah relaxed at Marcel's response. Perhaps the problem wouldn't go away entirely, but they were grateful for Vincent's support and optimistic that his refusal to entertain the witches' complaints would postpone any conflict.

"Is Vincent still here?" Rebekah asked.

"He just left," Freya announced, walking over to them with Bonnie. "Hey, kiddos," she greeted the twins. "Where's Hope?"

"Rebekah informs me that my lost little lamb is in the bathroom," Klaus informed Freya.

"Got it," Freya nodded in understanding.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Klaus demanded.

"Hope is five, and her parents are probably the two most stubborn, strong-willed people on the planet," Freya started. "Hope is going through her 'I can do it myself' stage with a vengeance. I'm sure that right now, she is struggling to button up her dress, and I'm also sure that the only thing that will frustrate her more than not being able to do it herself, is one of us going over there and offering our help."

"That makes sense," Rebekah agreed.

Klaus checked the time on his phone.

"She can have ten more minutes, and then I don't care how stubborn she is, I'm more stubborn and I'm her father, she'll do as I say," Klaus proclaimed.

"We should make sure to tell everyone about the witch situation at the next council meeting, but I think Vincent handled the situation well on his own, so we probably don't really need to worry about it at the moment," Rebekah returned to their earlier topic of conversation.

"I agree," Marcel told her.

Seeing the look on Marcel's face as he looked at Rebekah caused Klaus to let out an annoyed groan.

"Am I going to have to deal with this again?" Klaus demanded, gesturing between the two of them.

"No. I deserve better than someone who would trade years of my immortal life for an immortal life of his own," Rebekah answered promptly.

"I thought you'd forgiven me for that!"

"Since when has that been your attitude?"

Marcel and Klaus responded in unison.

"I thought I had, but now I'm angry again. I'm unpredictable," Rebekah offered Marcel a falsely sweet smile. "And to answer your question, Nik, since your girlfriend and Elijah's helped me realize my own self-worth."

"Where is Caroline?" Klaus asked. He had last seen her when they were eating birthday cake, then had lost track of her once Marcel approached him to discuss the witches.

"She was talking to a girl who complimented her dress when I last saw her," Bonnie offered.

Klaus checked the time again.

"Well, it's been ten minutes and Hope has not yet reappeared," Klaus stated.

"I'm coming with you," Rebekah added quickly. "I'm the one who let her talk me into leaving her alone."

Klaus nodded.

They rushed across the courtyard, and Klaus knocked on the door of the downstairs bathroom that Rebekah had taken the girls to.

"Hope?" he called through the door. "Hope, are you still in there?"

There was no response.

Klaus tested the doorknob, not surprised to find the door locked from the inside.

And when he broke down the bathroom door, it was empty.

"Nik," Rebekah interrupted in a broken voice.

Klaus looked down at his sister.

Who was holding Hope's necklace.

Which had a broken clasp, as if it had been forcibly torn from his daughter's neck.

Klaus pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Who are you calling?" Rebekah whispered.

Klaus waved her off. Rebekah raised her eyebrows in a way that let him know that she was annoyed, but she remained quiet.

The phone rang several times, and with each ring, Klaus grew more agitated and frustrated. Was she really so irresponsible as to not have her phone close by?

"Are you seriously calling to scold me again for not coming to Caroline's party?" Hayley snapped when she finally answered.

"No," Klaus corrected solemnly. "I'm calling to tell you that you need to come here now, little wolf. Hope has been kidnapped."

{ }

Klaus and Rebekah whooshed back across the courtyard, not caring if they called attention to themselves.

"Hope is missing," Klaus informed Marcel, Freya, and Bonnie. "We need to gather the rest of the family and get everyone else out of here."

Marcel immediately turned off the sound system and leaped up to the landing, overlooking the courtyard.

"Thank you all for coming," Marcel said. "As much as we hate to cut the fun short, there are young children here who need to get to sleep soon. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Have a good night!"

Out of respect (and a lingering amount of fear) for Marcel, all of the party guests quickly made their way towards the gate.

Once they had all left, the rest of the family rushed over to meet Klaus.

"What has happened to cause you to end the party with such urgency?" Elijah asked.

"Hope is missing," Klaus explained again. "Rebekah found the amulet that Katherine gave her on the floor outside of the bathroom, which is where Rebekah last saw Hope. The chain of the necklace was broken, leading me to believe that whoever took Hope, knew that the necklace contained a protective spell and tore it off of her."

All of them—Elijah, Katherine, Kol, Davina, Josh, Rebekah, Marcel, Freya, and Bonnie—looked stunned and morose at Klaus's revelation. The twins started crying, though Klaus wasn't sure how much of his explanation that they had understood.

"Call Vincent back here," Klaus ordered Marcel. "We could always use another witch."

Marcel nodded immediately and pulled out his phone.

"Someone needs to get Finn," Klaus continued. "And where is Caroline?"

No one was able to answer.

Klaus looked around the courtyard, searching frantically for a glimpse of her blonde hair or pink dress. He couldn't believe that he'd managed to lose sight of her, when she was always the first person he saw when he entered a room, the person that everything in his life revolved around. Especially on Caroline's birthday, a day that he'd insisted was dedicated entirely to Caroline, he should have been focusing all of his attention on her, not allowing anyone to distract him from what was really important.

Elijah returned with Finn at the same time that an out-of-breath Vincent ran through the gate.

"I was closer to here than home when you called," he gasped out. "I ran back as fast as I could."

"Thanks for coming," Marcel offered.

"Oh, and I found this outside the gate," Vincent said, holding up the bracelet that Klaus had given Caroline for her birthday. "Isn't this Caroline's? Where is she?"

"Oh, no," Rebekah whispered.

Klaus felt a debilitating combination of fear, anger, and dread that he had never felt before. His heart plummeted, and his mind emptied, save for the one thought that echoed there, reverberating like the final note of a melancholy symphony:

Hope and Caroline were both missing, and both of them had had their protective spells forcibly removed.

"Sister, check your tracking spell on Esther. Where she is, Hope and Caroline will likely be as well," Klaus instructed.

Freya nodded and dashed inside the house.

"How can we be sure, though?" Kol asked.

Klaus was already biting into his wrist by the time his brother finished asking the question.

"Esther and Hope are both related to me by blood. With Hope no longer protected by the protective spell, we should be able to find her using a locator spell," Klaus continued. "Which any of the witches here are capable of doing. If the location that Freya's tracking spell gives us for Esther matches the one that the locator spell gives us for Hope, we can verify that Esther and Hope are together."

"And Caroline?" Katherine asked.

"If Bonnie can spare more from her stores of Caroline's blood, we can do another locator spell, but we have no reason to believe that she wouldn't be where Hope and Esther are," Klaus said.

"I'll do it, just let me grab a map of the city," Bonnie volunteered.

"I'll get it for you," Kol offered.

Kol was back within seconds, holding the map out to Bonnie.

Klaus let his blood drip on to the map and Bonnie started chanting.

Before she finished the spell, Freya returned with Esther's location written on a scrap of paper. The coordinates she had written were just outside of the city: close enough that Caroline and Hope could have been transported there quickly, but far enough away that the surrounding areas would be relatively unpopulated.

"Okay, I'm here, tell me what happened," Hayley demanded as she marched into the courtyard with Jackson following close behind.

"Someone abducted Hope while she was in the bathroom during the party, and they took Caroline as well," Klaus quickly summarized. "Freya is checking her tracking spell on Esther and Bonnie is doing a locator spell using my blood. Once we find Hope and confirm that they're in the same place, we will go rescue Hope and eliminate Esther."

"At least you're dressed for it," Rebekah remarked, throwing a scathing look at the camouflage long-sleeved shirt and olive green cargo pants Hayley was wearing. Jackson was, as usual, wearing a nearly identical outfit. "You do know that this isn't Operation Desert Storm, correct?"

"What would you know about Desert Storm, Rebekah, you were daggered," Hayley retorted.

"You weren't born yet," Rebekah taunted.

"Can everyone who's insulting each other to cover up their anxiety please do so silently? I need to concentrate," Bonnie snapped.

"What is taking you so long?" Klaus demanded. "It's just a simple locator spell."

"I had to do the spell again, something went wrong the first time," Bonnie answered.

"What went wrong?" Kol asked.

"The blood pulled apart, almost like the spell thought there was a third person with them," Bonnie answered.

"There is a third person there: Caroline," Katherine pointed out.

"I meant a third blood relative," Bonnie elaborated. "It's like the spell thought there was a third Mikaelson in that room."

"And now?" Kol asked.

"It happened again," Bonnie sighed. "There's one person, a short distance away from another person, who is sitting so close to a third person that their drops of blood aren't even completely separate."

"It could be my blood," Klaus mused. "I'm sure you all know that I've been giving Caroline my blood every day to protect her, to make her stronger. She has my blood in her system at all times, just in case. Perhaps the spell found my blood in Caroline's system and that's what the spell is reacting to."

"That sounds reasonable," Bonnie said, but she didn't look convinced.

"Okay, if we know where Hope is, why are we still standing here? Let's go!" Hayley shouted.

Klaus glared at Hayley in disbelief.

"While I certainly understand your anger, as I feel it two-fold, we don't have a plan," Klaus said. "We can't just run in to Esther's lair without any idea of what we are going to find there. The rest of us are not dressed for combat like you are, and there's also the matter of finding sufficient childcare for Lizzie and Josie while we're gone."

The twins hadn't spoken since Rebekah had brought them back from the bathroom. Josie was standing next to Davina, holding her hand and hiding her face in the skirt of her dress, and Lizzie was sitting on the ground, crying.

"Lizzie, honey, please don't sit on the floor. Your mother will have a fit if you get your new dress dirty," Klaus told her.

Lizzie reluctantly pulled herself off of the ground, hugging Klaus's leg when she stood up.

"Aiden left when everyone else did, but I can call him and ask him to come over and babysit," Josh offered.

"Or I can call Eva, if you're okay with that," Vincent chimed in.

"And I can take them to the bayou and have Mary watch them," Hayley snapped. "But we have to decide what to do and do it quickly, so that we can go save Hope."

"We don't have time to go all the way out to the bayou," Klaus decided. He couldn't blame Hayley for being short-tempered and angry, but he was getting irritated with her barking orders and acting as though she was the only one who cared about Hope—and as though Hope was the only person any of them cared about who was in danger. "Call them both. Go change if you need to, and be back here, ready to go, in ten minutes."

{ }

"We need to come up with a plan, and we need to come up with it fast," Klaus ordered as soon as everyone had come back downstairs.

They'd moved into the dining room for privacy, and were now all seated around the table.

That is, everyone else was seated at the table, while Klaus paced behind his seat at the head of the table. Elijah, Katherine, Freya, Finn, and Bonnie sat on one side, while Kol, Davina, Hayley, Jackson, Vincent, and Josh sat on the other, with Marcel sitting at the foot of the table and Rebekah taking Klaus's seat when she entered the room after everyone else was already seated. The twins sat at their kids' table, still wearing their party dresses, their tulle skirts not quite fitting under the table.

"I was just going to punch her in the face again," Hayley offered.

"That isn't helpful," Elijah scolded, loosening his tie.

Elijah, Klaus, Marcel, Vincent, and Josh hadn't changed clothes—Elijah because he always wore a suit, Klaus because he was supervising the twins, and the others because they didn't have a change of clothes available at the Mikaelsons'.

Rebekah, Freya, Katherine, Davina, and Bonnie had dressed strategically, choosing comfortable, close-fitting clothing in dark colors and flexible fabrics. They were living proof of the chaos of the last hour: meticulously styled hair quickly swept up into haphazard ponytails; carefully applied formal makeup that they hadn't bothered to wash off looking almost like clown makeup with their plain long-sleeved tee-shirts, jeans, and boots; their posture completely different in their flat shoes rather than the dressy heels they'd been wearing to the party—with the exception of Katherine, who was wearing tall boots with high, stiletto heels that could do some serious damage to any enemy.

"Let's consider our advantages," Elijah proposed. "We have more people than she does, we have protections spells placed on us, we have removed the protective spells placed on Esther, and Esther does not know that we have removed those protective spells."

"And our disadvantages?" Klaus questioned.

"She has taken two people we care about hostage," Elijah listed. "She is very powerful in her own right, and she had approximately half an hour before we noticed that Hope was missing."

Klaus turned on Freya.

"Why did you not put protective spells on Caroline and the girls? We can't rely on jewelry that can be removed," Klaus asked.

"Do you have any idea how much power those spells require?" Freya retorted. "Putting a protective spell on an object, designed to protect the owner is one thing. It requires a lot of power, but it's finite. But to put a protective spell on someone who's living, or undead? The witches would never want anyone to be completely invincible like that. To do the spell, you have to access the power of the full moon, and the spell only lasts until the next full moon. A witch could conceivably renew the spell every full moon, but I don't think that they every considered the possibility of a vampire or werewolf having that good of a relationship with a witch who had that much power."

"Why didn't you say anything when you did the spells?" Klaus demanded.

"I didn't want anyone to worry," Freya answered. "I assumed that either this would be all over by the next full moon, or I could surreptitiously renew the spells without anyone noticing. I couldn't do the spell on Caroline and the girls because they weren't here during the full moon, when I did the spells on everyone else, and I assumed that they would be safe enough with their amulets, whose spells will never expire."

"Well, you assumed wrong!" Klaus replied.

"I know that now!" Freya shot back.

"Calm down," Elijah ordered. "Again, this is not helpful. The more time we spend here arguing, the more time Hope and Caroline spend as Esther's prisoners. We need to remain focused and be ready to go as soon as Aiden or Eva gets here."

"You're right," Klaus replied. "We need to rescue Hope and Caroline and kill Esther. We can be flexible with everything else as long as we can accomplish those two things."

"But we need to have some idea as to how we'll accomplish those two things," Marcel pointed out. "Look, we're all going into this having each other's backs, whatever Esther tries to throw at us. But we can't follow along if we don't know where you're leading us. Whatever it is you want me to do, I'll do it. Just tell me what it is."

"Okay, let's keep it simple," Rebekah proposed. "We need one or two people to find and free Hope and Caroline, and everyone else to attack Esther to distract her while the others are looking for them. So, we need to quickly nominate a couple of people who we agree are small, quiet, non-threatening—and will fly under Esther's radar."

"She would look for us if she didn't see us, and she's worked fairly extensively with Bonnie and Vincent before," Klaus brainstormed. "That leaves Marcel, Davina, Katherine, and Josh."

"Marcel's strengths are better suited to going on the attack," Elijah decided. "We should also send a witch to find them in case they are restrained by magic, which means Davina must be part of that group."

Davina nodded.

"Then Katerina should as well," Klaus reasoned. "If she doesn't see Davina or Katerina, there's a good chance that she'll simply assume that both of you insisted on leaving your girlfriends at home, out of harm's way."

"How good a chance?" Freya asked.

"Better than anything else we've come up with," Klaus answered.

Just then, Eva and Aiden walked into the room.

"What took you so long to get here?" Klaus inquired harshly.

"It wasn't the getting here that took so long, it was removing the boundary spell on your property so that we could get inside," Eva replied.

{ }

"Esther must have put that in place after everyone left to try to slow us down," Klaus concluded.

"She must not have anticipated you all sitting around the table having a heart-to-heart before you went to save Hope," Hayley complained bitterly.

Klaus ignored her, focusing on the new arrivals.

"You don't seem surprised that she did that," Eva commented.

"I have more important things to invest my time and energy in than to feign surprise at the lengths that Esther will go to in order to make me suffer," Klaus replied.

"Like these little princesses," Eva cooed, approaching Lizzie and Josie.

"Right. Lizzie, Josie," Klaus pointed to each girl as he said each of their names. "This is Eva."

Eva greeted the twins with a smile, and the twins shyly waved in return.

Klaus knelt down in front of Lizzie and Josie.

"We're going to go get your mother and your sister back, okay?" Klaus told them. The twins nodded tentatively. "Aiden and Eva are going to watch you while we're gone, and we'll be back before you know it."

Klaus turned back to Eva and Aiden.

"All right, they won't sleep, but considering the circumstances, that's fine. Try to get them to change into their pajamas, maybe put on a movie for them to distract them, or feed them something that's healthier than the candy and cake they've been eating all day," Klaus instructed.

Aiden and Eva both nodded.

"Don't worry about us, we have the easy job," Aiden said.

"We're happy to help," Eva echoed.

"Josie won't talk to you the entire time you're here; don't take it personally, she's naturally a quiet, introverted person, and she retreats inwards when she's upset. Lizzie is going to start crying as soon as we leave, but that isn't personal either, she's just emotional and she cries when she's upset because she wants to make sure that you know she isn't happy so that you will immediately start working to fix whatever is making her upset," Klaus continued.

"And since Niklaus spoils her, he does immediately start working to fix whatever is making her upset," Kol cut in.

Klaus ignored him.

"They share a closet and a dresser, but Lizzie's clothes are almost all pink, and anything yellow or blue is definitely Josie's, even though she has a lot of pink clothes, too. They're usually pretty vocal about their preferences, so you won't need to guess what they like or what they want. I don't really have time to give you a complete biography of each of the girls, but they're very well-behaved and shouldn't give you any trouble." Klaus said.

"It doesn't matter!" Hayley burst out. "My daughter has been kidnapped by a powerful, evil witch who wants to kill her. If the worst thing that happens to these two tonight is that one of their babysitters serves them, I don't know, a type of juice they don't like, they're a lot luckier than Hope. Let's go. Now."

"Again, I understand your anger and your worry, Hayley, but I do not take kindly to you barking orders, and especially not this indignant attitude, as if you are the only person who cares that Hope is in danger. We all care, and the rest of us care that Caroline is in danger, too," Klaus responded. "For the record, Lizzie likes orange juice and Josie likes grape juice, and they'll both drink apple or fruit punch," he told Eva and Aiden.

"Okay…" Aiden replied.

"We really should go, soon, before Esther can cause any more damage," Marcel proposed.

"I'm sure that Esther hasn't caused any damage other than what we already know," Klaus stated.

"What makes you say that?" Vincent asked.

"We discovered that Hope and Caroline were missing only twenty minutes ago," Klaus explained. "And they couldn't have been gone for more than thirty minutes before we noticed that they were gone. She hasn't had enough time to enact any of her more elaborate schemes yet, not that she would before I got there. I know Esther and her evil plots better than anyone, and so I know that as much as she believes that she must kill Hope to restore the balance of nature, or whatever her excuse is, she wants me to suffer as well. She won't hurt either of them until I'm there to watch her do it."

"I agree with that assessment," Elijah chimed in. "We still need to leave now that all of us are ready and we have our plan arranged."

"Of course, now that the twins are settled here, let's go," Klaus agreed.

"Finally," Hayley muttered.

"There are too many of us to fit in one car," Elijah said. "We'll need to split up."

"Right. Elijah, you take Katherine, Hayley, Jackson, and Finn; Rebekah, you take Kol, Davina, Josh, and Bonnie; and Freya, Marcel, Vincent: you're coming with me," Klaus ordered.

Elijah and Rebekah gave affirmative nods, leading their groups out to the garage.

Klaus was the last one to leave the room, and like he predicted, Lizzie started crying as soon as he did.

{ }

Klaus spent the entire drive on autopilot, lost in his own thoughts.

He was vaguely aware of Marcel sitting next to him, and Freya sitting behind him, and both of them talking with Vincent, but he wasn't paying any of them any attention.

All he could think about was that this was the second time in less than two months that Caroline was in danger because of him.

He had pushed the thought away when they'd found out Hope was missing, when they'd found out Caroline was missing, when they'd been planning; because if he'd allowed himself to think that, he would have been consumed by guilt and anger, and he would still be in his house, destroying the furniture.

It was all his fault. Every time that she had gotten hurt, every bad thing that had happened to Caroline since she'd arrived in New Orleans, had been his fault.

It was all his fault. The realization filled him with despair and self-loathing that threatened to consume him like a black hole.

There was nothing that Klaus wouldn't do for Caroline. He would do anything, give anything, sacrifice everything to keep her safe and happy, and it still hadn't been enough.

He'd given her a stepdaughter, friends she loved like sisters, and his heart; and it had come with the price tag of constant worry, weeks of house arrest, and two kidnappings.

Last time, Caroline had been taken to send him a warning: that Esther and Genevieve were the ones pulling the strings, which meant that no one Klaus loved was safe. They could hurt anyone they wanted to, and all Klaus could do was try to rescue them afterwards.

Last time, Klaus and his family had found Caroline fairly quickly, and without any lasting harm done. He wasn't so sure that he would be so fortunate twice.

And this time was worse, because Hope was there, too.

Two of the people he loved most in the world were at risk of being harmed by someone who would only want to hurt them because it would hurt him.

He took little comfort in knowing that Caroline would protect Hope, because he knew that Caroline would protect Hope even if it meant putting her own safety at risk.

Klaus knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if Caroline got hurt while trying to protect Hope.

The first time that Caroline had been kidnapped, Klaus had thought that was his worst nightmare.

He had a new worst nightmare now—and he was right in the middle of living through it.

Thinking of Caroline and Hope, held hostage somewhere, scared or hurt, made him feel sick, and made him want to tear Esther apart with his bare hands, burn the pieces, and scatter the ashes across the world so that she could never come back, no matter how hard she tried or how many witches were willing to help her.

He stood by his earlier analysis of Esther's motives: he truly didn't think that Esther would have hurt Caroline or Hope—at least not yet. Esther hated what she had made him almost as much as she hated what Hope had been born as. She was Dr. Frankenstein long before Mary Shelley had written the book: she'd created a monster and didn't like the result.

Just like Klaus had ceased to be surprised by the tactics Esther used to hurt him, he also had ceased marveling at his mother's hypocrisy. Her moral opposition to creatures that violated the laws of nature hadn't stopped her from turning her children into vampires in the first place.

As a parent himself, Klaus could understand her desperation, her willingness to do anything to keep her children safe. But no matter what unspeakable thing Klaus had to do to protect Hope, he would stand by it, take responsibility for whatever price he had had to pay in exchange for his daughter's safety. He would never later insist that what he had done was wrong and needed to be undone.

He remembered when his mother had loved her children. He could still envision her indulgent smile, hear her voice singing them lullabies. He had fancied himself their mother's favorite, and now he was the one she was most determined to see dead.

Another example of Esther's hypocrisy: her having an affair with a werewolf was acceptable, or at least excusable; her having a child that she passed off as her husband's was justifiable as well; but that child inheriting his father's werewolf gene and activating his curse without even knowing that he was cursed made that child a monster, an abomination.

Klaus had no way of knowing that his werewolf side would allow him to conceive a child with a female wolf, and he certainly had no idea that that child would be the most powerful witch in the history of the world, and the princess of an important New Orleans wolf pack, and have vampire blood running through her veins.

Hope hadn't asked for any of it either, and even if she was powerful enough to be dangerous someday, she was only five. She had several powerful witches monitoring her and teaching her how to control her magic and use it properly.

Esther abducting Caroline was almost worse than her kidnapping Hope. While Esther's hatred of Hope was hideous and despicable, she had no such vendetta against Caroline, just a desire to hurt Klaus as much as possible.

Esther's fate was sealed the moment she ordered Genevieve to snap Caroline's neck weeks ago. Klaus would never allow anyone to hurt Caroline and get away with it, and Esther had already been allowed to live far longer than Klaus was happy with.

Klaus had no idea how she'd managed to whisk away both Caroline and Hope from the party without anyone noticing, but once Klaus got them back, he was never letting them out of his sight again.

{ }

Klaus shook himself out of his reverie when the GPS in his car announced that they had reached their destination.

They had arrived at an abandoned warehouse in a run-down area of outermost outskirts of the city.

Klaus quickly parked the car, pulling off his seatbelt before he even shut off the engine. Marcel, Freya, and Vincent were just as quick to get out of the car.

Rebekah parked next to him a minute later, and she and her passengers spilled out of the car, coming to stand next to them.

"Should've known that there would be no emergency great enough to convince Elijah to abandon his dedication to following the rules of the road," Rebekah rolled her eyes. "As if he can't compel himself out of a speeding ticket."

"Well, we can't go inside without him and the people in his car," Freya lamented.

Fortunately, Elijah arrived only a few minutes later.

Katherine jumped out of the passenger's seat before the car even stopped moving.

"Finally!" Rebekah complained.

"It's not my fault Elijah literally could not drive any slower," Katherine retorted.

"Yes, forgive me for obeying traffic laws and attempting to keep everyone in my car safe," Elijah deadpanned.

"Everyone in your car is immortal, but there is a mortal five-year-old girl in there waiting for us to rescue her," Klaus said.

"Do we want to split up to cover more ground, or do we want to stick together?" Marcel asked.

From where they were standing, they couldn't see the entrance to the warehouse. They would have to examine the building to find a way in.

"We need to stick together," Klaus decided.

"We need to hurry!" Hayley insisted, taking off running, with Jackson on her heels and Klaus quickly overtaking them both. Everyone else followed as quickly as they could, though the witches lagged behind since they didn't have vampire speed.

After a few minutes of searching, they found the door near the edge of the opposite wall. Klaus shoved the door open forcefully, not waiting for anyone to follow him as he stormed inside. Elijah held open the door, gesturing for everyone to be quiet as they went inside.

Klaus had insisted on leading the way. He was the one that Esther most wanted to confront, and Caroline and Hope had been abducted to hurt him.

Esther may have started this fight, but he was going to finish it.

Inside, the room was dark, with no windows—though that wouldn't have helped since it must have been close to midnight at that point. There were candles burning in the distance, placed in a circle.

Esther must have performed a spell.

They would have to figure out what she had done, and to whom.

Klaus pointed towards the candles, making sure everyone was aware that Esther had used magic.

As they ventured further inside, Katherine and Davina separated from the group, slinking along the walls to try to find Caroline and Hope without calling attention to themselves.

The rest of them stood in a pyramid formation to project strength: Klaus in the front; Hayley and Elijah right behind him; Marcel, Vincent, Freya, and Rebekah behind them, and Kol, Bonnie, Finn, Josh, and Jackson last.

After a quick look around the space, which was largely empty except for the candles and some minimal furniture, Klaus focused his vampire senses on trying to determine how many people were in the room.

He could hear five calm, human heartbeats that must be Esther and her accomplices, who must still be hidden in the shadows. He could also hear two faster, more nervous heartbeats: one human and one vampire.

Hope and Caroline.

They were here, and if they were still nervous, they must not know that all of the Mikaelsons were there as well.

But the room was silent, so at least Esther wasn't hurting them at the moment.

Klaus pointed out Esther's accomplices to his family, trying to silently convey to them that they could arrange among themselves who took care of them, but they would need to do it quickly. He didn't care who killed Esther's assistants, he just needed them out of the way so that Esther had no support and could more easily be defeated.

Those closest to him nodded in agreement; Marcel, Elijah, and Rebekah dividing the room among them, with subtle hand gestures, silently agreeing that they would each kill the witches in their assigned sections.

Once that was done, Klaus would take care of Esther himself, though he suspected that Hayley would want to launch one last attack on their daughter's kidnapper before he did so.

It didn't take long for them to find Esther. She was sitting comfortably, reading a book without a care in the world, as if she wasn't an evil mastermind who had kidnapped her own granddaughter.

"Good, you've arrived, now we can proceed," Esther greeted cheerfully, marking her place in her book before standing up.

"Whatever game you're playing, it ends now, Esther," Klaus challenged.

* * *

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	36. Chapter XXXVI: Welcome to the Final Show

Hello lovely readers!

I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but since this chapter is the climax of the story, I really needed to take my time to try to get it as perfect as possible. Of course, since I'm only human, it will never be perfect, but I tried, so here you go. I hope this chapter is worth the wait!

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter! I'm so thrilled to see readers so excited to see what happens next in the story! Your eagerness and excitement to read the next chapter really helps motivate me to write and share the next chapter with you as soon as I can!

As promised, this chapter is the long-awaited final confrontation between the Mikaelsons and Esther. Then we have one more chapter to wrap up the story, then an epilogue, then that's the end of Sanctuary in Their Hearts! Thank you all so much for reading; I've really loved writing this story and I hope you've enjoyed it as well!

This chapter is divided into more sections than most other chapters, but the individual sections are shorter, because I needed to switch perspectives more often. The point of view alternates between Klaus and Caroline, though hopefully that's clear enough as you read.

Also, I feel like I should warn you, there's some violence in this chapter. It isn't anything worse than what's on the show, but it's a little… macabre, I guess you could say. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there, but as usual, I wouldn't include it if I didn't think it was necessary, and that particular scene is very much in character for Klaus.

One last thing, I promise: I apologize for the truly horrible pun I make in this chapter. I even have the poor character I force to say the horrible pun apologize for the pun. You all deserve trophies for tolerating my sense of humor this long/:

Chapter title comes from Harry Styles' song "Sign of the Times."

* * *

Caroline set Hope down on the ground, keeping a hold of her hand. When Hope looked up at her, Caroline put her finger to her lips, signaling that she needed to be quiet.

Hope nodded solemnly, her blue eyes wide. She was scared. Even though Klaus had arrived, Hope was still scared. To be honest, Caroline was scared too, but she had to put on a brave face for Hope, at least until Klaus found them.

Caroline pulled Hope in the direction that Klaus's voice had come from. Her plan was very simple: get the twins to siphon off the linking spell on Hope before Klaus killed Esther. The simplicity of the plan wouldn't make it any easier to accomplish, since she didn't know if the twins were even there, or where 'there' even was, or if it was close enough to be able to bring Hope home in time.

She felt horrible for plotting to use two of her children to save another, but the twins did have powers that no one else had, and Caroline knew that they would gladly use them to save their sister. Even after multiple occasions of watching Lizzie and Josie working with the Originals on magic that witches five times their age couldn't attempt, Caroline still couldn't imagine ever getting used to her three-year-old daughters being the ones to save the Original family.

As they moved along the wall, someone grabbed Caroline's free hand, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming.

"Come on, Care," Katherine whispered in her ear. "Let's get you two out of here."

"Wait, Kat, are the twins here?" Caroline asked.

"No, they're at home," Katherine answered, looking uncertain as to why Caroline wanted to know. "That's why it took us so long to get here, we had to wait for Aiden and Eva to show up to babysit them. If it were up to Hayley, we would have abandoned the twins and run over here the second Bonnie finished the locator spell, but Klaus insisted on waiting until there was someone there to take care of them. Why do you ask?"

Caroline smiled at the thought of Klaus taking the time to guarantee the twins' safety, rather than risking their safety by bringing them here to help rescue her and Hope, or leaving them to fend for themselves at home. She knew that Klaus loved them, but he'd proven it when he'd refused to prioritize Hope over Lizzie and Josie, instead doing everything he could to keep all three of them safe.

"Esther did a linking spell between herself and Hope," Caroline explained. "I thought that the fastest way to get rid of it would be to have the twins siphon it off of her."

Katherine sighed and moved to run her hand through her hair, before realizing that her hair was in ponytail. Glancing at Katherine, Caroline saw that in addition to her uncharacteristically messy hairstyle, she was also wearing a decidedly un-Katherine-like outfit of a plain black long-sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans. The only hint of Katherine's typical dramatic style was the thigh-high, black leather stiletto boots she was wearing. Caroline knew that Katherine was more graceful in stilettos than most people were in sneakers, but the fact that she'd traded in her shiny blouses and skintight leather pants for the duration of this mission showed just how seriously all of the Mikaelsons were taking Esther's threats.

Davina stepped forward from behind Katherine. Davina was dressed similarly to Katherine, except her shirt was eggplant and her ankle boots were flat. Caroline couldn't remember seeing Davina wearing such a dark color, or even wearing her hair up.

"I can sever the link between them," Davina offered. "It will take me longer than it would take the twins, but I can do it. You need to go make sure that Klaus doesn't injure Esther until after I'm finished."

Katherine shot a questioning look at Caroline.

"Go," Caroline encouraged. "I need to stay here. The more time before Esther realizes that Hope and I were able to get ourselves free, the more time Davina has to work on undoing this spell without interruptions."

Katherine nodded and ran off.

Davina took Hope's hands, closed her eyes, and started chanting.

{ }

Katherine silently slipped in between Bonnie and Vincent.

"Esther linked her life to Hope's," she whispered so quietly that only the vampires could hear. "Davina is undoing the spell now, but we have to stall until she's finished working, or any way we hurt Esther will also hurt Hope."

Klaus showed no outward sign of hearing Katherine's statement, but inwardly he was already concocting a plan to get Esther talking long enough for Davina to finish severing the link between Esther and Hope.

He could only assume that if Caroline or Hope had been hurt, Katherine would have mentioned it. Which meant that he had been correct, and that Esther hadn't wanted to hurt them until he was there to suffer along with them.

As relieved as Klaus was that Caroline and Hope were, for now at least, unharmed, he still needed to find out for certain what Esther had done, and ensure that the linking spell on Hope was removed so that his mother couldn't hide behind his daughter for protection.

"I believe I asked you a question," Klaus said evenly. "What game are you playing here, Esther?"

Esther never could turn down an opportunity to gloat. It was an affliction that Klaus suffered from himself.

"No games, my son," Esther replied. "I am merely making you an offer you can't refuse."

Klaus rolled his eyes.

"I can and will refuse any offer that comes from you," Klaus declared.

Esther chuckled.

"You say that now, but you don't even know what I'm offering yet," she said.

"But I know that you would never offer me anything out of the goodness of your heart," Klaus responded. "There are always strings attached, and there is nothing you could offer me that would be worth getting tied up in whatever tangled web you're trying to weave."

"How harshly you judge me," Esther remarked. "When it is you who has killed his own parents, who has a thousand years' worth of blood on his hands. All I mean to do is make amends for the crimes against nature that I committed all those centuries ago when I turned my children into immortal monsters."

Klaus couldn't wait to be rid of Esther, to finally send her back into The Void where she belonged. Her hypocrisy truly knew no bounds: she had kidnapped two innocent people, one of them a child, yet still seemed to see herself as moral and righteous. She claimed to be offering him some sort of agreement, yet Klaus knew better than to take Esther at her word, since she had no qualms with breaking her word if it suited her.

"You were trying to save our lives!" Klaus exclaimed. "That was your decision, and you have to take responsibility for it! It wasn't an accident, and it wasn't a mistake, it was a choice that you made, and the last good choice you ever made in your children's interests. Now you're just a hypocrite who couldn't care less about violating the rules of nature when you made us vampires, and only started caring once we didn't meet your exact expectations of what we would be like as vampires."

"I don't call that hypocrisy, I call that seeing the error of my ways," Esther insisted.

"Is that how you justify wanting to kill your own children and only grandchild?" Klaus asked. "How is murder any more moral than drinking blood for survival?"

"Killing a villain doesn't make you a villain, it makes you a hero," Esther deflected with a smile.

"You are so twisted, you really do see yourself as a hero and all of us as villains, don't you?" Klaus questioned.

Someone coughed discretely from behind him. Klaus knew that he was supposed to be keeping Esther talking to buy Davina time to finish the spell she needed to perform, but he was growing increasingly angry with Esther's delusional excuses. Plus, she wasn't giving him much to work with in her answers. She just kept repeating her strange justifications for her actions.

"Morality may be a million shades of grey for vampires, but for witches, it's black and white," Esther said.

"I think the lines are getting a little blurry for you, what with the kidnapping and murder you're planning," Klaus remarked.

Esther laughed.

"You have no idea what I'm planning, and since you haven't even asked, I can tell that you're stalling, for whatever reason. Let's check in on my victims, shall we?"

{ }

"They're coming!" Caroline whispered urgently.

Davina started murmuring faster, speaking so quietly that even Caroline could barely make out what she was saying.

"Hurry!"

Seconds later, Davina stopped chanting, and Hope collapsed.

Caroline grabbed Hope and held her against her chest.

"What just happened to her? Is she okay?" Caroline asked.

"It worked," Davina sighed in relief. "She's fine. The spell didn't hurt her. She's just a little weak right now because the spell connected her to Esther's magic, and severing the link disconnected her from all of that power."

Caroline had clearly been around witches too long, because that explanation made perfect sense to her.

"How long will it take for her to regain her strength and be back to normal?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not sure," Davina answered. "She's so small that it might take a while, but she's so powerful that it could only take a few minutes. And her werewolf half is another variable that might impact her ability to defend against and recover from magic used against her, but I can't be certain how."

Of course Hope was the exception to the rule. She was the exception to every rule, the only one of her kind. Considering everything she knew about werewolves, Caroline recalled that werewolves had enhanced healing abilities that allowed them to recover from injury quickly, but only after they triggered their curse. Until they did, untriggered werewolves were just like ordinary, albeit angry, humans.

When she relayed the information to Davina, the witch shrugged.

"But it's Hope, so you never know," she said.

Caroline looked down at Hope, who was stirring in her arms. She'd only been out of it for a few minutes, but the sudden loss of power had still left her momentarily disabled.

Hope's reaction to the spell had given Caroline an idea, but they would have to act fast if they wanted to take advantage of it.

"Would the same thing happen to Esther?" Caroline asked.

Davina smiled, her eyes wide.

"I don't see why not."

{ }

"What just happened?" Esther demanded, stopping in her tracks.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked, but before Esther could explain, she stumbled, falling to her knees.

It was less than a minute before Esther recovered.

She quickly stood, taking a deep breath and smoothing her hair, then continued walking as if nothing had happened.

She stopped abruptly in front of two circles made of candles, each with a wooden chair placed in the middle. One of the chairs was still intact, but the other had had its arms pulled off. There were ropes thrown haphazardly on the ground in each circle, dangerously close to the flames of the lit candles of one of the circles.

"How could you allow this to happen?" Esther demanded of her accomplices, hovering behind the Mikaelsons. "How could you allow them to break free?"

Klaus sighed in relief. Caroline had found a way for herself and Hope to escape from Esther's clutches.

But he still didn't know where they were. He hadn't seen them, either outside the warehouse or in it. Esther's reaction told him that she didn't know where they were either.

Which meant only one thing: they had to find Caroline and Hope before Esther could.

Klaus turned to look at his siblings, ready to give the order to split up and find them as soon as possible.

Klaus strained his vampire hearing to try to find them. After a moment, he heard the door open and then Caroline let out a surprised gasp.

{ }

"Come on, you two have to get out of here now," Davina insisted.

She led them towards the door of the warehouse, being careful to stay close to the wall and out of Esther's sight.

Davina pushed open the door and stepped through it to hold the door open for Caroline and Hope.

Caroline frantically looked around, on the lookout for Esther and hoping the witch wouldn't be able to stop them from leaving in time. She didn't see her, but as she tried to make her way out of the warehouse, she collided with an invisible barrier covering the doorway.

She gasped in surprise.

"What just happened? How come you could get through the door but I couldn't?" Caroline asked.

"She must have put up a boundary spell," Davina replied. "The spell can be anchored with a person's blood, attaching the spell to that person so that it only applies to them."

Caroline set Hope down, and the little girl immediately followed after Davina.

And collided with the same invisible barrier than Caroline had.

Caroline wasn't surprised that Hope was affected by the spell, since she'd seen the bandage on her hand from where Esther had taken her blood, but she didn't remember Esther taking her blood. Esther must have taken her blood before she'd woken up after getting her neck snapped, and her vampire healing had already eliminated any evidence, so she couldn't have known.

"So, Hope and I are both stuck in here," Caroline lamented. "Can you take down the boundary?"

"I can try," Davina offered. "Although, honestly, Klaus will have probably killed Esther before I could finish. Esther dying would definitely remove the spell, and my energies might be better spent helping him with that."

Caroline thought over what Davina had proposed. She would never leave the warehouse with everyone else still inside fighting Esther. Like Davina, she would rather fight with her family then abandon them to keep herself safe.

But it wasn't just her. Caroline didn't want Hope trapped there for another second, and she couldn't risk anything happening to the baby.

Who no one except her and Hope knew about.

While they were in the middle of a supernatural battle of epic proportions was not the ideal time for a pregnancy announcement. As protective as Klaus was over her, Caroline anticipated that she would essentially be on bed rest for her entire pregnancy. She couldn't be of any help to her family if Klaus was doing all he could to insist that she relax and keep herself and the baby out of harm's way.

So she had to keep quiet for now, and be very careful to make sure they didn't get hurt. From what Esther had told her, the witch was counting on Caroline and the baby making it out of the warehouse safe and alive, so she assumed that the worst thing Esther would do to her would be to snap her neck and leave her unconscious for the remainder of the fight.

Caroline heard almost two dozen sets of footsteps approaching, and pushed Hope behind her.

Davina shot Caroline a confused look.

"They're coming," Caroline explained.

{ }

Caroline and Davina were standing next to the door of the warehouse.

"I see you've found my insurance policy," Esther called out.

Caroline and Davina turned to see everyone approach them. When they did, Klaus was able to see Hope peeking out from behind Caroline's legs.

His eyes passed quickly over Davina, then examined Hope in search of any sign of injury.

But once he met Caroline's eyes, he saw no one else in the room.

"Caroline," Klaus breathed, rushing forward and gathering her into his arms.

She was trembling slightly, still wearing the pink dress and high-heeled shoes she'd worn to the party, with her hair messy and her makeup smudged, but she was still the most beautiful thing that Klaus had ever seen. She was alive and unharmed, and her hands were clutching his shirt like her life depended on it.

"Did she hurt you? Are you hurt?" Klaus asked, stroking her back with one hand and gently nudging her to lay her head on his shoulder with the other.

"I'm fine," Caroline replied. "We're fine," she corrected herself, reaching down to wrap her arm around Hope's shoulders.

Klaus let out a sigh of relief. He savored the feeling of her safe in his arms, her warm breath against his neck and the sweet scent of the perfume he'd gifted her earlier filling his senses. Nothing was more important than Caroline, and Hope, who Klaus could now see with his own eyes were not hurt.

Klaus looked down at Hope, hiding behind Caroline in her little purple and green dress, clearly still scared after the ordeal they had been through that night. He wouldn't have said anything, but Klaus was pleased that Hope had turned to Caroline for comfort, and that she trusted Caroline to keep her safe from Esther. Even after the rest of her family had arrived, including both of her parents, Hope still clung to Caroline rather than seeking out Klaus or Hayley.

"I love you, so much, and I'm so sorry that this happened to you, it's all my fault," Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear.

"What do you mean, 'insurance policy?'" Elijah asked.

Until Elijah had spoken, Klaus had scarcely even remembered that there were other people there other than Caroline and Hope. He had been so relieved that Esther hadn't hurt Caroline or Hope that he had almost lost sight of Esther's continued threat. He was just lucky that Esther hadn't tried anything while he'd been distracted.

"Caroline and Hope can't leave this place, there's a boundary spell," Davina explained.

"A little thing like a boundary spell isn't going to stop us," Kol taunted. "It's not as if we don't have four witches, and a baby witch."

Esther laughed.

"A baby witch?" she questioned. "She isn't even the baby of the family anymore, now is she?"

{ }

Caroline's eyes widened in horror.

Another reason to keep her pregnancy a secret from Klaus until after they defeated Esther was to keep Esther from using the baby to manipulate him. He couldn't be hurt by something he didn't know about. But if Esther told him, not only would he be upset with her for not telling him herself, but he would fall right into Esther's trap, sacrificing anything to protect Caroline and the baby and losing sight of his goal of eliminating Esther.

"You look frightened, dear," Esther commented with a smile. "Not to worry, you know I mean you no harm."

Caroline heard multiple people scoff in disbelief at Esther's claim.

She had heard their footsteps earlier, so she knew about how many of the Mikaelsons had shown up to rescue her and Hope, but she hadn't seen who had come. She'd seen Katherine and Davina, she'd heard Klaus, and she'd assumed that the rest of the Mikaelsons, and probably Marcel and Vincent, were there, but once Klaus had gathered her in his arms, he was all that she could see.

If she had wondered why it was Eva and Aiden who had been left behind to babysit the twins before, she didn't anymore. Everyone was standing in the warehouse: Klaus and his siblings; Katherine, Bonnie, and Davina; Marcel, Vincent, and Josh; Hayley and Jackson.

She also saw Esther and her six assistants, including the young woman who had lured her away from the party, who she hadn't seen earlier. Caroline hadn't known exactly how many accomplices Esther had helping her, but now she was certain that the Mikaelsons outnumbered them twofold.

"I'm going to keep you safe," Klaus murmured into Caroline's hair. "I won't let her hurt you."

Caroline wanted, with all her heart, to believe him. She knew that Klaus would do anything to keep her safe, but she also knew how powerful Esther was. As much as she appreciated Klaus's promise to keep her safe, she didn't know for certain that he would be able to keep it.

"Hope," Hayley called out softly. "Come here, baby girl. Mommy's here."

Hope timidly lifted her head out from behind Caroline's legs to look up at Hayley.

Esther laughed again, her cold eyes darting from Hope to Hayley, then to Caroline. Caroline knew that Esther was thinking of what she had said earlier, when she'd scolded Caroline for not willingly sacrificing Hope to save her own baby, just because Hayley was Hope's mother.

Contrary to what Esther thought, she had never deluded herself into thinking that Hope was her daughter. Her relationship with Klaus, her daughters' relationship with Hope, didn't change biology. She knew that Hope was Hayley's. But that didn't mean that she didn't love Hope, or that she wouldn't do whatever it took to protect her.

Caroline reluctantly let go of Hope. She would be safer with Hayley, who Esther seemed to have no animosity towards, than with Caroline, who Esther had threatened to kill if Klaus chose to save Hope instead.

Having both of Esther's targets standing right next to each other seemed like a recipe for disaster. They were lucky that Esther hadn't tried anything yet.

"Mom!" Hope cried, running towards Hayley.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

{ }

Hayley reached out her arms for Hope to run into.

When Hope moved, Marcel and Rebekah subtly shifted to try to shield her from Esther's sight.

Which Esther interpreted as them getting ready to launch an attack against her.

In response, Esther raised her hands and sent a spell flying towards them.

Nothing happened, because Marcel and Rebekah both had protective spells covering them, thanks to Freya.

"How is that…?" Esther trailed off.

Hayley picked up Hope and turned so that she was between Esther and Hope.

Esther started chanting again, performing what quickly became clear was a summoning spell, causing Caroline and Hope, the only two not protected against such spells, to go flying across the room, along with Esther's minions.

"No!" Hayley yelled as Hope was pulled out of her arms.

After doing the spell, Esther didn't move, so Klaus quickly concluded that she hadn't targeted Caroline and Hope, she'd done the spell on the entire group to see which of them were protected by protective spells. She must have already known that Caroline and Hope weren't, as well as her minions, but now she knew that Freya had performed protective spells on the rest of the family.

Freya took it upon herself to perform another summoning spell, pulling Caroline and Hope back towards them.

Klaus reached out for Caroline just as Hayley did for Hope. Caroline fell willingly into his arms, relaxing slightly when she saw Hope perched on Hayley's hip with her arms wrapped tightly around her mother's neck.

Klaus, too, felt a modicum of reassurance seeing Hope with Hayley. He felt guilty and personally responsible for both Caroline and Hope being present, but he knew that Hayley was tough and fiercely protective, and she would do anything to keep Hope safe.

"That was not fun," Caroline stated. "I don't recommend the flying thing that we just did. I thought that flying would be fun, but no, it wasn't."

"Sorry," Freya apologized.

"You don't need to apologize, desperate times call for desperate measures," Caroline replied.

By that time, Esther's assistants had made their way back across the warehouse and stood behind Esther.

They clearly didn't know what to do, since most of their opponents were untouchable, at least with magic, and without magic, the witches stood no chance against them. They were also clearly more afraid of the Mikaelsons than the Mikaelsons were of them. A quick glance told Klaus that no one recognized any of the six of them, except Caroline, who pointed out the witch who had lured her out of the party, and the witches who had brought Hope into the warehouse. Klaus fixed the ones Caroline identified with a particularly murderous glare, and while they looked threatened, they did nothing to retaliate.

So for several minutes, they all just stood still, unsure of what to do.

Then Klaus nodded.

Rebekah, Kol, and Marcel sped forward and rapidly snapped the necks of each of Esther's accomplices, then yanked out their hearts as well, for good measure.

"No!" Esther yelled, seeing the bodies lying on the ground.

"How can you not see why I call you abominations?" Esther continued. "You just killed six people who can't even hurt you."

Klaus sighed.

"Are we really having this argument again?" he asked sarcastically. "Those six people kidnapped Caroline and Hope, and would hurt them again on your orders. You are fighting to protect what's important to you, which is your hypocritical self-righteousness, and we're fighting to protect what's important to us, which is our family."

Esther gave him a wicked smile.

"I don't need their help to succeed," she insisted. "I can destroy you all by myself."

And then she aimed a spell directly at Hope.

{ }

It was complete and utter chaos.

Everything was a blur of light and sound, and Caroline couldn't see or hear anyone or anything clearly.

Hayley screamed and moved out of the way as Esther tried to attack Hope.

The spell didn't reach Hope, but the damage was already done. Once Esther cast the spell, the battle had begun.

All of the other witches sent their own spells directly towards Esther. She dodged and evaded as best she could, but defending herself against four powerful witches in an enclosed space was proving to be a challenge, even for Esther.

Caroline wasn't surprised to learn that, as usual, it seemed that the witches were the only noteworthy participants in this conflict, with the vampires and hybrids just trying to stay out of the witches' way.

Supernatural speed and strength wasn't very important when you were fighting against someone who could set you on fire with a flick of the wrist.

Esther kept throwing spells at all of them, trying to find one that was able to penetrate their magic shields.

Caroline didn't know what the plan was, but she could tell from the spells the witches were using that there was a plan.

The spells they were using were relatively harmless. They caused Esther to levitate for a moment, they set the ground in front of her on fire at random—though never close enough to her to do any harm, they sent her own spells back towards her, they even conjured a rain cloud to hover over Esther's head.

They weren't trying to kill Esther.

If they'd wanted to, any of them could have easily used their magic to snap Esther's neck or pull out her heart.

Which meant that someone had asked them not to kill Esther, because they wanted to do the honors themselves.

Caroline only needed one guess to figure out who that was.

She tried to find Klaus in the melee, but he'd led her into a corner and ordered her to stay hidden when the first spells started flying. From her vantage point, she could see all of the action, but she was far enough away that no one could see her in the midst of all of the commotion.

Which was good, Caroline admitted as she rested her hand on her stomach, for once accepting Klaus's overprotective tendencies without complaint. It kept her and the baby safe, without having to tell anyone about the baby yet.

As soon as they got home, she would tell everyone about the baby, starting with Klaus. She just wanted them all to be safe before she shared shocking news like that, and she wanted Esther to be defeated, so that Klaus would only ever see this baby as a miracle, not as a trap.

She couldn't see Hope, but she knew that Hayley had hidden her somewhere else in the warehouse, having seen her dodge enemy fire before Elijah and Marcel were able to distract Esther so that she could sneak away.

At the moment, the only vampires she could see were Rebekah, Josh, Marcel, and Kol. Everyone else was somewhere in the haze of smoke and sparks and everything else that they were using to try to distract, weaken, and tire Esther.

And it seemed to be working. After some time, though Caroline wasn't sure how long, Esther did start to appear disoriented. Fighting so many people on her own had forced her to use a lot of power in a short period of time, while her opponents hadn't tired at all, since none of her spells had any effect on them.

"Now!" Klaus yelled, and they sprang into action.

Bonnie found salt among Esther's supplies and used it to form a barrier for a boundary spell.

Freya put a protection spell on the boundary, ensuring that no magic could penetrate it, from the inside or the outside.

Davina performed a spell that immobilized Esther.

Vincent's spell pushed Esther inside the boundary, leaving her unable to move and unable to escape.

{ }

This was it.

The end of Esther's master plan to rid the world of the abominations she had created and now hated.

The woman who had practically singlehandedly invented dark magic was now rendered powerless by the spells cast by witches almost as powerful as she was. Esther might have been powerful, but she was no match for Freya, Bonnie, Davina, and Vincent. Esther always worked alone, and it was to her detriment.

She had no remaining allies, and she was trapped, alone, inside a circle no wider in diameter than she was tall. But she didn't tremble or cry or plead for her life. She was too proud for that.

"Just out of curiosity, what was the offer you were talking about earlier?" Klaus asked.

"I was going to offer you a choice between my two hostages," Esther answered in a flat, emotionless voice. "I would have let you save one of them, and I would have killed the other."

Klaus couldn't even bring himself to act like he was stunned by his mother's capacity for cruelty.

"And you had really had no preference whatsoever? You would have just gone along with whatever I decided?"

Klaus found that hard to believe. Esther was controlling and manipulative. Even when you thought that she was offering you a choice, she was pulling the strings from behind the scenes, ensuring that you did whatever it was that she wanted you to do, and before you knew it, you'd been played.

"I gave you an incentive to make the right choice," Esther conceded.

The switch in verb tenses made Klaus suspicious. Whatever 'incentive' Esther claimed to have given him really did exist. He knew that at some point he would have to figure out what it was, but right now, his priority was defeating Esther once and for all.

"As you can see, I didn't have to make a choice. Everyone I love is safe. But you wouldn't know about that, since you don't love anyone, and no one loves you," Klaus retorted.

"You have no idea what I've done," Esther shot back. "If you were smart, you would know. I've already told you."

Klaus was losing his patience and was no longer willing to listen to a desperate, deranged woman's riddles.

"Now, Esther," Klaus said. "You are going to go back to Hell where you belong, and you are going to spend the rest of your miserable eternity knowing that you failed in your mission to rid the world of vampires. And you know what? Even if you'd managed to kill all of your children, you still wouldn't have succeeded. Davina separated me from my sireline years ago. In the event of my death, all of the vampires I created would continue to live, unaffected. Turns out you don't know everything."

With that, Klaus reached forward and pulled out Esther's heart.

Then he snapped her neck.

Then he decapitated her.

"I need a witch," Klaus stated gruffly.

Freya shook her head, wiping away tears she'd cried, in mourning for the dream of a loving mother she'd always wished she'd had.

Vincent stepped back, out of deference to the Mikaelsons.

Bonnie looked appalled by the mutilated remains on the ground in front of Klaus, unhappy at the sight of death, even the death of someone so evil.

Davina stepped forward.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"Set it on fire," Klaus answered.

Bonnie let out a shocked gasp.

"Surely that isn't necessary," Bonnie insisted. "She's dead, Klaus. She's in The Void with no way to come back. Tearing out her heart, and snapping her neck, and decapitating her, and setting her on fire, is just overkill, if you'll please forgive the pun."

"This is necessary for me, Bonnie," Klaus replied stoically. "You are still unfamiliar with New Orleans witches. They're constantly coming back to life, and channeling their ancestors, and possessing other witches. We need to make absolutely certain that no one can use Esther in any way."

Bonnie took a small step backwards, giving her reluctant consent.

With a twist of her hand, Davina conjured a flame on Esther's body, her head, and her heart.

As Esther's body caught fire, none of them could look away.

Caroline felt guilty and ashamed, almost, for watching, when this pyre seemed more like a punishment than a verification of Esther's death. Hayley covered Hope's eyes, even as she wore a look of triumph that matched the ones on Klaus's, Elijah's, Kol's, Marcel's, Katherine's, and Jackson's faces. Freya and Rebekah cried. Finn and Vincent looked conflicted, while Davina and Josh looked stunned, and Bonnie looked disgusted.

No one moved, and no one said a word.

They all watched as the flames consumed her.

{ }

"So it's all over," Freya broke the silence.

"Yes," Klaus agreed. "She's dead, The Void is sealed, and her body is in such a state that no one could attempt to revive her, or possess her, or channel her power."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence again, until the fires were reduced to little piles of ashes where Esther's heart, head, and body used to be.

Klaus divided the largest pile, from Esther's body, between four small boxes. He gave each of the boxes to Freya, Finn, Kol, and Rebekah. The ashes that had once been Esther's head went to Elijah, and Klaus kept Esther's heart for himself.

"Take your portion of Esther's ashes, and get rid of them," Klaus instructed. "Bury them, scatter them in the ocean, hide them, throw them in a garbage can. Anywhere in the world, the further from here, the better. But whatever you do, keep them separate, and don't tell anyone where your share is."

The Mikaelson siblings nodded.

"Should we do that now?" Finn asked.

"Let's go home," Klaus suggested instead. "We can do that tomorrow. We've all had a long day, it's long past Hope's bedtime, and I'm sure that Caroline wants to see the twins."

"You should know that—" Hayley interjected.

"I know," Klaus cut her off. "You and your husband are, of course, more than welcome to spend the night."

"Thanks," Hayley replied.

Hayley carried Hope over to the door of the warehouse, and even though they knew that the boundary spell was no longer in place, they all held their breath as Hayley and Hope approached the door. Once she disappeared through it, they all started moving in the same direction.

Jackson was right on Hayley's heels, with Elijah and Katherine following at a far enough distance to give them a little privacy. Elijah summoned everyone who'd come to the warehouse in his car, causing Finn to rush after them.

Rebekah opted to meet up with everyone she'd driven inside so that they could all walk out to her car together. After gathering Kol, Davina, Bonnie, and Josh, Rebekah paused to make sure that Klaus had enough room for Caroline in his car. After Klaus assured her that he did, Rebekah led her group outside with a cheerful promise to see them at home.

Freya, Vincent, and Marcel must have snuck out while Caroline wasn't paying attention, because the next thing she knew, she and Klaus were alone in the warehouse.

She wasn't sure why she was lingering, because she wanted to get out of there more than anyone else.

Casting one last look at the scorched ground where Esther's body used to be, Caroline hurried towards the exit, towards freedom, towards home.

Caroline slowed her pace uncertainly as she approached the door of the warehouse.

"There's no need to you to worry, my love," Klaus assured her, taking her hand in both of his own, placing a gentle kiss on her palm. "Esther is dead and her magic died along with her. Any she spell she cast on you tonight no longer has any effect on you."

But as Caroline reflexively placed her free hand over her stomach, she knew that Klaus's promise was a vow he couldn't keep.

"Klaus," Caroline started, clutching Klaus's fingers in her own. "Esther performed a spell on me that isn't going to go away now that she's dead."

"What spell?" Klaus asked. "Nothing she could have done could make me love you any less, or make me see you as anything other than the perfect angel you are."

He kissed her forehead, her cheekbones, the tip of her nose.

Caroline sighed, keeping her eyes on their joined hands as she spoke.

"It was a fertility spell," Caroline confessed in a whisper. "In a stunning violation of our privacy, Esther was somehow figure out that we'd been… intimate, earlier today, and so she performed a spell that was able to revive my reproductive system long enough for an egg to be fertilized and for a child to be conceived."

Caroline finally looked up at Klaus, whose eyes were wide and reflecting a chaotic cornucopia of emotions.

"I'm pregnant," Caroline told him. "We're having a baby."

* * *

That ending should come with a mic drop…

See you next time for the last (!) chapter!

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	37. Chapter XXXVII: Your Heart is All I Own

Hello lovely readers!

I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter (again). I was writing my gift for the last ever Klaroline gift exchange, which you can all check out now on Archive of Our Own if you're interested.

Then I was originally planning to update on Wednesday, but after I saw the spoilers for the finale on Sunday, I decided to postpone until Thursday, so that no matter what happened with the finale, we would have some happy Klaroline to look forward to afterwards. And then it took longer to write than I thought it would, which brings us to today.

And wow do we ever need some happy Klaroline after that finale! If anyone wants to talk to someone about what some fans are actually calling the worst series finale in television history, I'm here for you (:

In other news, thank you with all my heart to everyone who nominated Sanctuary in their Hearts for a Klaroline Award! I am so grateful, honored, and excited to be nominated, and I feel so fortunate to have such supportive readers! I'm thrilled that so many of you love reading this story as much as I love writing it, and that you love it enough to recommend it and nominate it for fandom awards! Again, thank you to everyone who nominated the story and everyone who has voted for it!

So this is the last chapter. I'm saving my long, sentimental thank you note for the epilogue (which is already shaping up to be very, very long and will be posted as soon as I finish writing it), so on this chapter, I will just say thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, favorited, and shared this story.

This chapter should answer most of your last lingering questions: we see Klaus's reaction to Caroline's pregnancy, as well as everyone else's, which a lot of you were very interested in seeing; the location spell hint; and even some character development by way of Disney princesses (yes, seriously). However, you won't find out the baby's name until the epilogue (sorry, Artemis!). But there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it hint for the baby's middle name, as well as some discussion of names to hopefully hold you over until the name is revealed!

In response to some other questions, I'm still ignoring characterizations of the twins and Hope from _The Originals_ as well as now _Legacies_. I have seen the trailer but I'm not planning to watch the show. I was going to, to see what the twins were like as teenagers, but the show's creator said in an interview that essentially Josie is Elijah and Lizzie is Kai, so I feel like my question was answered and I'm not happy with the answer, so I have no reason to watch. As for the twins on _The Originals_ , I liked seeing them use their magic, but I didn't love that they were negotiating with Caroline over what they would get if they saved Hope's life. I get that they aren't friends, but if your mom tells you to do something, you just do it.

This also was brought up in a review, so I will let all of you know that I had planned to write a sequel, of sorts, to this story, but instead of being a linear story, it would be more like a collection of excerpts from the future of these characters' lives. You would be able to send me requests for moments you'd like me to write, and because of that they couldn't be in chronological order, so it could be that one update could be baby's first Christmas, and the next could be Hope's high school graduation. I'm really looking forward to writing about these girls as they get older; would that be something that you would be interested in reading? Please let me know in a review or a message, and if you'd like, you can start sending in your requests and I'll add them to my list of prompts!

The title from this chapter comes from Ed Sheeran's "Perfect," because I'm sentimental like that.

Happy reading!

* * *

Klaus fell to his knees in front of her.

Caroline felt her heart leap into her throat.

Was he scared? Angry? Worried? Did he not believe her?

But she needn't have worried.

He gently rested his hands on either side of her waist, looking up at her with love and adoration—reverence even, before kissing her stomach over her dress.

"Hello there, my littlest love," Klaus murmured.

Caroline burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Klaus shot to his feet and took her hands in his.

"You aren't angry?" Caroline questioned.

"Of course I'm not angry," Klaus replied. "Why would I be angry? We talked about this. We wanted to have a child together if we could find a way. Well, this is a way."

"I know, but this wasn't planned," Caroline pointed out. "Esther literally created this child in order to manipulate you. She told me her plan. She was going to force you to choose between saving my life and saving Hope's, and the baby was supposed to be the incentive for you to choose me and leave Hope to die. She wanted to make you think that Hope's death was your fault, that you were the one who allowed her to die."

Klaus let go of one of Caroline's hands so that he could wipe her tears away.

"You don't need to worry about any of that," Klaus reassured her. "We defeated Esther. She's dead, her body's been burned, and we're separating her ashes into six parts to be disposed of all over the world. She can't come back from The Void, and she can't hurt you, or Hope, or the child you carry ever again."

Klaus gently tugged on Caroline's hand so that she fell into his arms.

"Now why are you so upset, my love? Were you worried that I wouldn't love this baby just because Esther is the reason he or she exists?" Klaus asked. "Because I promise you, this baby is ours, which means that they could not be any more perfect in my eyes, or any more loved. And neither could you."

"It's a girl," Caroline informed him. "Esther told me that the baby's a girl. And since she literally manufactured this pregnancy herself, I'm taking her word for it. Just thought you should know, so you don't have to keep saying 'he or she' or 'they.'"

Klaus's eyes widened.

"You're giving me another beautiful little princess?" he wondered incredulously.

Klaus dropped to his knees again.

"Hello again, my beautiful little princess," Klaus addressed Caroline's stomach again. "You're going to be just as beautiful and perfect as your mother, aren't you, my beautiful little angel? I already love you with all my heart, and I can't wait to meet you whenever you're ready to grace the world with your presence."

He kissed her stomach one more time before standing up and pressing a soft kiss to Caroline's lips.

"You're such a good father," Caroline praised. "But there's something else you need to know about this baby."

Klaus nodded.

"The reason that Esther knew the baby was a girl, is because she practically hand-selected the baby's DNA," Caroline started to explain. "She also told me that the baby is going to have curly golden-blonde hair, and silvery-grey eyes, and dimples, and my nose, and your mouth."

Klaus smiled at the thought.

"She studied the baby's DNA that closely because she wanted to find a particular gene that she didn't want her to have," Caroline continued, hoping that Klaus would figure it out on his own so that she wouldn't have to say it herself.

"My werewolf gene," Klaus concluded.

"Yes," Caroline nodded, taking a deep breath. "Klaus, Esther used a spell to remove your werewolf gene from the baby's DNA, as crazy as that sounds. She had me tied up with vervain ropes; I couldn't stop her. I'm sorry, but this baby can never become a werewolf, or a hybrid, or have the ability to create hybrids."

"What matters is that you're both healthy," Klaus declared. "Obviously, I would have preferred it if Esther hadn't changed our child's species for her own amusement, but as long as she is healthy, I'll be happy."

"Can we go home please? It's been such a long, crazy day, and I just want to go home, and check on the twins, and go to sleep. I'll tell everyone in the morning, I promise, I'm just too exhausted to explain everything again tonight," Caroline requested.

"Of course, whatever you want," Klaus agreed.

Klaus placed his hand on the small of Caroline's back and carefully led her outside, where Freya, Marcel, and Vincent were standing next to Klaus's car, waiting for them.

"Are you okay?" Marcel asked Caroline.

"I'm fine," Caroline answered hesitantly.

"I wasn't listening," Marcel added hastily, picking up on Caroline's discomfort. "Not that I thought you were hiding something, I just thought that you might want some privacy."

Caroline offered him a soft smile.

"Thanks, Marcel."

Klaus opened the passenger door for Caroline, while Freya, Vincent, and Marcel squeezed into the back seat.

Caroline looked out her window at the warehouse.

"If I ever have to see this place again it will be too soon," she said.

"You won't have to, I promise," Klaus replied, taking Caroline's hand. "Now let's get you home."

{ }

As they had been the last to leave, naturally they were the last to arrive.

Everyone else was standing in the courtyard, waiting for them.

Before Caroline even made it all the way through the gate, Lizzie and Josie were already barreling towards her, their little voices crying, "Mommy!" in harmony.

Caroline crouched down in time for the girls to run into her outstretched arms.

"Be careful with your mother," Klaus scolded gently.

The twins reluctantly stepped back out of Caroline's embrace.

Caroline looked them over, relieved to see that they didn't seem any worse for wear after the frightening and stressful evening they'd had. There was no evidence that they'd cried, or stuffed their faces with junk food, or stubbornly sat in the courtyard all night waiting for their family to return home.

Both girls were wearing pajamas—Josie's lemon and patterned with lollipops, Lizzie's lavender and patterned with cupcakes—with their hair in pigtail braids tied with matching bows.

"Were you two good for Eva and Aiden?" Caroline asked.

Both girls nodded fervently, not that Caroline expected them to answer any differently.

She looked to their babysitters for confirmation.

"They were great," Aiden said. "There were some tears and some scared questions, but they ate and got changed and watched a movie without giving us any trouble."

"They're just darling, Caroline," Eva echoed. "They didn't even fight over what movie they wanted to watch. We would have completely understood if they had acted out, given the circumstances, but they were very well behaved."

"Thank you so much for watching them," Caroline said.

"We were happy to help out," Eva replied.

"Like I told Klaus before, we had the easy job," Aiden added.

Lizzie and Josie, apparently bored with the conversation, scampered off to greet Hope, who Hayley had refused to let go of since they'd returned. When the twins approached, Hope clambered to be set free from Hayley's hold to join them. Hayley's agreement was obviously very reluctant, as she kept a tight grip on Hope's hand, while Jackson stood over them, standing guard.

Rebekah and Freya were the next to smother Caroline with hugs.

"Are you sure you're okay?" they both asked.

"I'm fine," Caroline answered.

"Let her breathe, sister," Klaus implored.

Rebekah shot him a dirty look, but obeyed, as did Freya.

Caroline looked at all of her loved ones assembled in the courtyard, finally somewhat relaxed after a day that had been filled start to finish with activity, tension, stress, and fear.

And she had to laugh.

"What is it?" Klaus asked.

"We are very fashionably challenged," Caroline answered.

Caroline and Hope were still wearing party dresses. Klaus, Elijah, Marcel, Vincent, Josh, and Aiden were wearing suits. Rebekah, Freya, Katherine, Davina, and Bonnie were wearing plain shirts and jeans, as were Kol and Finn. Lizzie and Josie were wearing pajamas. Eva was wearing a sweatshirt and leggings. Hayley and Jackson were wearing what almost looked like army uniforms.

"Are we going to a party? Are we going to sleep? Are we going to, I don't know, a street fight? Who knows?" Caroline mocked.

"We're going to sleep," Klaus answered firmly. "All of us have had a very long day, and we all need to get a good night's sleep to recuperate."

"You two aren't going to…" Katherine trailed off with a suggestive glance.

"No, of course not!" Caroline frantically shook her head.

Vincent and Eva were the first to leave, making promises to return the next morning to check on Caroline and Hope and to debrief after the night's mission over breakfast. Josh and Aiden followed after agreeing to the plans as well. Hayley and Jackson vehemently refused to let Hope out of their sight, and after Klaus invited them to stay, Marcel had decided to join them in spending the night.

Hayley and Jackson took Hope upstairs to get ready for bed, followed soon after by Kol leading Davina, who was worn out after all of the magic she had used that day, up to their room, then Finn quietly slipped upstairs after them.

"Come on little ones, time for bed," Caroline called out to the twins, who whined in response, as was typical of three-year-olds when confronted with bedtime.

"You grab one, I'll grab the other," Caroline directed Klaus.

Klaus nodded, corralling a squirming Josie and settling her on his hip.

Caroline collected Lizzie, said goodnight to everyone still lingering in the courtyard, and made her way upstairs to the twins' room.

Thirty minutes, two bedtime stories, and three lullabies later, the girls were finally asleep, allowing Klaus and Caroline to retreat into their own room.

Caroline sluggishly trudged through her nighttime routine, changing into pajamas, washing off her makeup, brushing her teeth.

She crawled into bed next to Klaus, who was lying on his back, serenely lost in thought.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Caroline asked.

"I am more than okay with this, I am incredibly happy with this," Klaus answered. "And so will Rebekah when she finds out. And Freya, and Marcel, and Katerina, and Hope, and Lizzie, and Josie. This could be the best thing that has ever happened to this family."

"And don't know if I'd say that," Caroline demurred.

"No, you're right," Klaus agreed. "I think we'd all agree that you are the best thing to ever happen to this family. You have brought love, and light, and beauty into this house. What used to be a slaughterhouse is now a home filled with the sound of children's laughter. You are the reason there is happiness inside these walls. Yours and your daughters' presence here is the greatest gift this family has ever received."

"How can I ever be worthy of the pedestal you put me on?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

"I don't know, but you make it look easy," Klaus answered with a smile.

"I love you," Caroline told him, burrowing under the covers and resting her head on her pillow.

"I love you," Klaus replied, gently kissing her lips.

"I love you," he repeated, kissing her stomach.

{ }

The next morning, Caroline woke up when she felt Klaus moving underneath the blankets.

The movement was one that Caroline was used to, that she frequently woke up to.

But today it was different.

"Good morning," Klaus addressed her stomach.

"We aren't going to have a face-to-face conversation for the foreseeable future are we?" Caroline asked, yawning.

Klaus grinned sheepishly.

"Good morning, my love," he greeted, kissing her cheek.

"Good morning."

"Are you ready to make our announcement to everyone this morning?" Klaus asked. "Because I don't really think that keeping this a secret from the family is a viable option, but I understand if you want to keep this to yourself for a little while longer."

"No, I think they need to know," Caroline insisted.

As nervous as she was about their reactions, keeping her pregnancy a secret from her family had never occurred to Caroline. As Klaus had pointed out, it would be increasingly difficult to hide the growing baby from a house full of vampires, and she didn't want them to find out on their own and think that she didn't trust them enough to tell them herself.

She thought that Klaus had been correct in his assessment the night before: Rebekah would be thrilled to have another niece she could spoil, Freya would certainly adore the new baby, Kol would be overjoyed to have another little witch in the family. Even those whose exact reactions she couldn't predict, she knew they would be happy with the news.

Caroline pulled herself out of bed, quickly getting dressed. There was no physical evidence of her pregnancy yet, but she still decided to wear a loose-fitting blouse so that no one could look too closely at her stomach.

She turned around to look at Klaus, who offered her a smile, a silent show of support and strength. This man, who less than twenty-four hours earlier had brutally murdered his own mother, loved her beyond all reason and would go to the ends of the earth for their children. He was capable of incredible violence, and capable of all-consuming love.

"Is something wrong?" Klaus asked, taking her hands.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just having one of those moments where I can't really believe that you're real," Caroline answered.

"Why would you think I'm not real?" Klaus questioned, confused.

"It's not that I think you're imaginary, or something, it's just that when I first met you, you were supposed to be this villain, but you always took care to not treat me that way. Even when you were doing things like biting me and leaving me for dead, you always allowed me to see why you were lashing out the way you were, when you would have let anyone else think that you were just evil. And the more time I spent with you, the more I saw just how complex you are, and how you were just a flawed, complicated person just trying their best just like the rest of us. I loved you, long before I was willing to admit it, and the fact that the most powerful creature on earth loved me made me feel powerful, which is something that no one else has ever done. And I love that I haven't tamed you, or forced you to change into something that you aren't, because you're still the same impulsive, calculating, manipulative, determined person you've always been, but I see you with our girls, and how much you adore them, and how nothing is more important to you than their happiness, and I just think, how lucky am I to be loved by the thousand-year-old, seen-the-world-a-dozen-times-over, larger-than-life Klaus Mikaelson?"

Caroline felt the tears well up in her eyes as she spoke, but she let them fall, refusing to let go of him.

"It was not luck that brought me to you, my dearest Caroline," Klaus responded. "For a thousand years, I fought for you. Before I ever saw your face, I was working towards earning your attention, towards being worthy of your love. I became the most powerful creature on earth when I broke my curse, and the universe couldn't allow that sort of power to go unchecked. So they delivered you to me, and from that moment on, I was no longer the most powerful creature on earth: you were. If the price of your happiness was my absence, I would pay it. If the price of your safety was my life, I would pay it. There is nothing that I would not do for you. And this is our reward," Klaus rested their hands on Caroline's stomach. "This is the proof that I did become worthy of you, that my love for you is powerful enough to defy even the laws of nature. You are the love of my life, my everything, always and forever."

Klaus released Caroline's hands so that he could wipe away her tears.

"I know that you're trying to be romantic, and I appreciate it, but please don't say things like that," Caroline requested.

"Like what?"

"That you would die for me," Caroline answered. "You can't die, I won't allow it."

"Yes, my love," Klaus agreed with a smile.

"Now," he took her hands again. "Are you ready to change the Mikaelson family as we know it forever?"

Caroline grinned.

"I'm ready."

{ }

Klaus and Caroline weren't the last people to enter the dining room for their planned breakfast meeting, but they were far from the first.

Elijah, Rebekah, Freya, Katherine, Marcel, Bonnie, Finn, Josie, and Lizzie were sitting around the table, talking and laughing. The atmosphere in the room was light, miles away from what it had been for the last several weeks.

Everyone looked up when they entered the room.

And Rebekah laughed.

"What is so funny?" Caroline asked.

"You mean you didn't do it on purpose?" Katherine asked.

Caroline shook her head.

"Look down," Rebekah instructed.

Caroline did, not seeing what was so amusing about her rather ordinary maroon blouse and black jeans.

"Now look at Nik."

Caroline turned her head, not seeing what was so amusing about Klaus's rather ordinary maroon henley and black jeans.

"I don't get it," Caroline said.

"You're matching," Katherine told her.

Caroline laughed.

"I should never have said anything."

Within a few minutes, Vincent, Eva, Josh, and Aiden had arrived, and Kol, Davina, Hope, Hayley, and Jackson came downstairs.

There weren't enough seats at the table for everyone. Klaus had assumed his position at the head of the table, claiming the seats on either side of him for Caroline and Elijah, but everyone else was on their own. It seemed that the unspoken rule was that the later arrivals would have to stand, though some of the men were chivalrous enough to give up their seats so that all of the women could sit.

"Thank you all for coming," Klaus said. "I suppose our first order of business is to make sure that everyone is still in the physically and mentally unharmed state that they were in last night, that Esther isn't playing any more tricks on us from beyond the grave."

Not wanting to lie, Caroline didn't shake her head when everyone else confirmed that no, Esther had not done anything to them.

"And I assume that no one here is overcome with grief over Esther's death?" Klaus continued.

Again, everyone shook their heads.

"Then we just need to address how we're going to deal with Esther's ashes," Klaus declared. "I think that we should stagger our disposal of them. I don't want them in this house any longer than necessary, so perhaps Kol and Finn can leave today, Rebekah and Freya tomorrow, and Elijah and I the day after that?"

All of the Mikaelsons agreed.

"Remember, don't tell anyone where your share of the ashes are," Klaus reminded them. "So it's probably best not to dispose of them anywhere that has any significance to any of us individually or as a family. In fact," Klaus paused, drumming his fingers on the table.

Klaus picked up his box of ashes and handed them to Marcel.

"We should have nothing to do with this," Klaus decided. "Give your ashes to someone at this table that you trust, that way, none of Esther's children will know where any part of her remains are."

"Is all of this really necessary?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm not taking any chances," Klaus answered.

Elijah handed his box to Katherine, Kol handed his to Davina, Rebekah handed hers to Caroline at first, but Klaus insisted that he "didn't want her involved," so she gave them to Bonnie instead. Freya gave her box to Vincent, and Finn gave his to Josh.

"Davina and Josh can leave today, Katherine and Bonnie can leave tomorrow, and Marcel and Vincent can go the day after," Klaus proposed.

"Is that everything, then?" Kol asked.

"Not quite," Klaus replied. "Caroline, if you would please share the news? I just want to bring the girls over here, this affects them, too."

"Hope already knows, actually, but okay," Caroline agreed.

Klaus picked up each of the three girls in turn and moved them from their kids' table to the dining room table.

"So, yesterday, when I was being held hostage in that warehouse, Esther did a spell on me," Caroline began. "Well, technically she did more than one spell, but they're related, and she couldn't have done the second if she hadn't done the first, but she was clearly planning to the second before she did the first—"

"Caroline, you're babbling," Rebekah interrupted. "Just tell us what spells Esther did."

"A fertility spell," Caroline blurted out. "I'm pregnant."

Then, addressing Hope, Lizzie, and Josie, who she knew wouldn't understand any other explanation, Caroline said, "You three are getting a baby sister."

Everyone was talking at once.

The girls screamed and rushed towards Caroline, hugging her around her knees. Rebekah pulled Caroline into a hug as she started crying. Freya reached around Rebekah to take Caroline's hand. Katherine cheered and Davina clapped her hands excitedly. Kol and Marcel grinned broadly.

Caroline started tearing up again as she was surrounded by so much happiness in reaction to her announcement.

The Caroline who had first seen all of the Mikaelsons together at the ball, standing in an imposing line going up the staircase, would have never believed that those people who she had always feared, knowing that they could kill her as easily as they could blink, would be so excited at the prospect of welcoming her child into their family.

Then the questions broke through her happy shell.

"How could she do that, vampires can't have children!"

"When will the baby be born?"

"How do you know the baby's a girl?"

"Will this baby be a tribrid, too?"

"What was the second spell that Esther performed?"

Caroline gently broke free of Rebekah's embrace.

"I can answer all of those questions," Caroline said. "No, vampires can't have children, hence the magical intervention. I've already proven that vampires can carry a child to term. Esther's fertility spell managed to revive my reproductive system long enough for a baby to be conceived. As for when the baby will be born, obviously the usual way of calculating my due date won't work, but approximately nine months from early October is early July? Depending on if she's early or late, I'm guessing she'll be born either the last week of June or the first week of July. The second spell that Esther performed answers the rest of your questions. She did a spell to extract the werewolf gene that the baby inherited from Klaus. Which means that she'll never be a tribrid like Hope. She'll just be a witch, and since we're all acting under the impression that Hope can be a witch and a vampire at the same time, I assume that she can be as well. Esther practically combed through the baby's DNA to find the gene, so she knows everything else about her, which is how I know she's a girl."

"A girl!" Rebekah sighed dreamily. "Our little princess! Oh, she's going to be beautiful, Caroline! I can't wait to dress her up in adorable little pink dresses! I'm going to buy so many pink clothes she'll never have to wear an outfit twice! This is so exciting!"

"Okay, so if anyone needs to find Rebekah for the next nine months, she's at the mall, shopping for baby clothes," Caroline joked.

"Not just the next nine months, Caroline," Rebekah corrected, insulted. "I am going to buy my niece the prettiest pink clothes I can find for her entire life! Please let me have this, Care," Rebekah pleaded. "I didn't meet Lizzie and Josie until years after they were born, and Hope was born in the middle of a war and I was so busy trying to keep her alive all by myself that I had no time to buy anything other than the bare necessities. This baby is going to be born to a happy, settled Mikaelson family, to two parents who will be just as head over heels in love with her as they are with each other. This could be the first Mikaelson in over a thousand years who gets to be happy from the moment they enter this world."

Though Rebekah's statement proved that she was a little fuzzy on the details of the process of child birth (namely, how traumatic it was for the child), what she said weighed heavily on Caroline's heart.

The Mikaelsons were a notoriously melancholy group. Even at their happiest, there was a weariness in their eyes that came from centuries of traipsing the globe. In contrast, Caroline was 'full of light.' She was relentlessly optimistic, persistently positive even in the face of peril. And she was also months away from giving birth to a little girl who might be the only Mikaelson to have a chance of being consistently, innately happy.

She wanted that for her daughter her whole life, and she wanted that for all of the Mikaelsons from then on.

"Okay, Rebekah," Caroline agreed. "You can buy the baby all the pretty pink dresses you can find, until she's old enough to pick out her own clothes, then you defer to whatever she chooses. Deal?"

Rebekah agreed.

"While Auntie Bekah can be in charge of making sure our niece is the best dressed little girl in New Orleans, it will be Auntie Freya's job to teach everything she needs to know about being a Mikaelson witch," Freya chimed in.

"Thank you, Freya," Caroline replied. "Remember that she won't be as powerful as you or Hope because she isn't a first-born."

"Wait, that explains the blood," Bonnie interrupted.

"What blood, is someone hurt?" Caroline panicked.

"No, everyone's fine," Bonnie reassured her. "Last night I did a locator spell to find Hope using Klaus's blood. The results of the spell made it look like there were three blood relatives in the room. We assumed that the last one was actually you, because you had Klaus's blood in your system. But I was right, there were three Mikaelsons in the room: Hope, Esther, and your baby, all three of whom are related, by blood, to Klaus."

"Speaking of my daughter, what did you mean when you said that Hope already knew about the baby?" Hayley asked.

Hayley had been quiet since Caroline had announced her pregnancy. Caroline's speculations as to why ranged from the well-intentioned (she didn't want to take any attention away from Caroline) to the bitter (she was jealous and resentful that Klaus and Caroline were having a child together, taking attention away from her and Hope).

"She was there, tied to the chair next to me, when Esther performed the spell," Caroline answered.

Hayley was quiet after that.

"If no one else has any other questions…" Klaus trailed off.

One by one, the Mikaelsons and their guests approached Klaus and Caroline to offer their congratulations. Marcel made a joke about the age difference between himself and his new youngest sister. Kol made a joke about Klaus being the only vampire to impregnate a woman, and then doing it again. Katherine made a joke about Caroline being the only vampire to get pregnant, and then doing it again.

But even as they made jokes, Caroline still knew that they were all genuinely happy for her, and that they would love and protect her baby.

{ }

That afternoon, Caroline's room almost seemed to have a revolving door.

The first person to visit her was Hayley.

She hesitantly sat down on the edge of Caroline's bed, noticeably uncomfortable.

"Can I help you?" Caroline asked, trying to ease the tension in the room.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you earlier, for protecting Hope," Hayley said finally. "I know that Esther only wanted her and that you were some sort of bait, so you could have thrown her under the bus to save yourself, but you didn't."

"I love Hope, and I would never want to see her hurt," Caroline insisted. "I can't believe you would think I would ever even consider sacrificing Hope's life to save mine."

"I didn't, really, which makes it worse," Hayley replied.

"How do you mean?"

"I would have deserved it," Hayley answered. "I've been awful to you, and you've always been the bigger person, and that just made me feel worse. I'm scared that your daughter is going to make me and mine irrelevant," Hayley blurted out.

"Irrelevant? Hayley, Hope is Klaus's daughter, and you are Hope's mother, nothing can change that," Caroline reassured her. "Klaus will always love and take care of Hope, he isn't going to cast her off to the side because he'll have another child to love and take care of as well. And Hope could never be irrelevant. She's the only tribrid to ever exist. She's the future Queen of the Werewolves. She's the most powerful witch alive. You are the Queen of the Werewolves, and the mother of the only tribrid to ever live and the most powerful witch alive. You could never be irrelevant either."

Hayley looked at Caroline like she was a puzzle she couldn't quite solve.

"I don't want our daughters to have the same ugliness between them that we did," Hayley said.

"Then we both need to forgive and forget," Caroline answered. "We are the mothers of sisters, and as far as I'm concerned, nothing that happened before yesterday matters. I am unconditionally, unequivocally forgiving you for everything, and I'll never mention any of it again. I meant what I said to Klaus when I negotiated your custody agreement: I think you've been punished enough. Now that Esther is gone, you're no longer on the hook. You're free. Starting this week, you can take Hope home to your wolf kingdom for the weekend. You can start living your new normal life."

"A clean slate sounds perfect," Hayley agreed, then she stood and held out her right hand. Caroline, assuming that Hayley meant to seal their deal with a handshake, extended her own hand, but then Hayley started speaking again.

"Hi, I'm Hayley Marshall-Kenner," Hayley said. "I'm Hope's mother, and Jackson's wife, and the Alpha of the Crescent Wolf Pack, or, as my friends affectionately call me, the Queen of the Werewolves."

Caroline smiled, placing her hand in Hayley's.

"Caroline Forbes," she replied. "I'm Lizzie and Josie's mother, and I'm expecting another daughter early next summer, and I serve as the human representative on the supernatural council of New Orleans.

"It sounds like you have a great life," Hayley commented.

"I could say the same about you," Caroline smiled.

As Hayley turned to leave, Caroline called out, "I choose to believe that you would have done the same. But you're welcome."

Hayley just smiled.

A few hours later, Katherine walked in to Caroline's room, holding a small gift bag, which she handed to Caroline.

"Klaus asked me to go get yours and Hope's amulets repaired, since I know the witches that spelled them, and I don't think he's planning on leaving you alone for the next nine months," Katherine rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"He only very reluctantly agreed to be as far away as his art studio," Caroline told her. "He was inspired to paint something for the baby's room. He wanted to work in here until I told him that I couldn't be around paint because it's bad for the baby."

"Is that even true?" Katherine asked.

"Yes! I wouldn't lie to him about the safety of our child," Caroline insisted.

"That's kind of crazy, isn't it? That you and Klaus are having a baby?" Katherine wondered aloud. "It's like if this was one of the girls' princess movies, this would be the happy ending."

"That was beautiful, Kat," Caroline cried.

"Okay, note to self, she's already hormonal," Katherine remarked. "I came bearing gifts, remember?" she pointed to the bag.

Caroline opened the bag, pulling out her bracelet and clasping it around her wrist. Then she retrieved Hope's necklace and set it aside to return later.

"There's one more thing in there," Katherine said.

Caroline reached into the bag again, finding a necklace that looked just like the amulets Katherine had had made for Hope and the twins, except this one had a sparkling black stone above the gold locket.

"It's for the baby," Katherine explained needlessly. "The other girls have already exhausted Mardi Gras colors, but black seems like a good New Orleans color. And it will match all of her outfits."

"You heard Rebekah, I don't think she'll wear an outfit that isn't entirely pink until she moves out of this house," Caroline retorted. "Thank you for this, Katherine."

"You're welcome," Katherine said.

A little while later, Lizzie came in the room holding her Sleeping Beauty doll and costume.

She placed them down in front of Caroline.

"For Baby," the little girl said quietly.

Caroline immediately burst into tears.

"No, sweetie, those are yours," Caroline told her. "Klaus is going to buy the baby all of the things she needs, you don't need to give up your own."

"But Auntie Bekah says they're going to dress Baby in all pink, and Aurora wears all pink, and so they would match," Lizzie insisted with all the logic of a small child.

"And you can still wear all pink, too, if that's what you want. You can both have the same favorite color," Caroline said.

Lizzie shook her head.

"Baby's turn," she said.

"Do you not like pink anymore? Because I can tell Rebekah to stop buying you all pink clothes if you want. You're old enough to choose your own favorite colors, unlike the baby, who won't be able to tell Rebekah whether or not she really likes pink for quite a while," Caroline said.

Lizzie clutched her necklace, running her finger over the purple stone.

"I think I like Rapunzel more," Lizzie admitted. "Sleeping Beauty just sleeps a lot. Like a baby!" Lizzie's face lit up as she made the connection. "Rapunzel gets to have adventures, and her dress is pink _and_ purple."

Caroline made a mental note to ask Rebekah to start mixing some lavender in with pink clothes she bought Lizzie, and to stop by the Disney store herself the next day to buy Lizzie a Rapunzel costume and doll to replace the ones she was donating to her baby sister.

"Well, I'm sure the baby will appreciate her first gift from her big sister," Caroline said, picking up the dress and the doll.

Lizzie's eyes followed the dress and the doll in Caroline's hands.

"Mommy," Lizzie gasped with all the urgency of a toddler making what they thought was an earth-shattering discovery. "Can we name the baby Aurora?"

Caroline loved the idea of the girls suggesting names for their baby sister, but she wasn't so sure about that name in particular.

"I think that's a great name, Lizzie," Caroline replied, trying not to hurt the little girl's feelings. "We have to ask Klaus what he thinks before we decide anything. There are a lot of names, and we have to make sure that we're choosing the right one for the baby."

Caroline was certain that Klaus would never agree. She remembered Vincent angrily complaining about a vampire named Aurora who had been an enemy of the Mikaelson family and was now, ironically, under a sleeping spell. She couldn't imagine Klaus ever wanting to give his child the same name as one of his enemies.

Lizzie nodded earnestly, seeming to accept Caroline's terms.

"Bye, Baby," Lizzie said, waving in the general direction of Caroline's stomach, then skipping out of the room.

Caroline smiled. Actually, she thought, she would go to the store now.

{ }

Lizzie spun in circles, watching with a smile on her face as her skirt, made of pink and purple tulle covered in gold glitter, flew up around her as she twirled.

Caroline (and Klaus, who had insisted on coming along, since the last time she'd gone out on her own she'd gotten kidnapped) had just returned from the mall and given Lizzie her new costume and doll, and the little girl had immediately changed into her new princess dress.

By the time Caroline was ready to leave for the store, Lizzie had managed to assemble a pile of things to give to the baby. She'd included all of her clothes in the lightest, girliest shades of pink, from cotton candy to bubblegum, including the pink lace dress she'd just worn to Caroline's birthday party; her pink comforter printed with Sleeping Beauty's castle; and her Marie stuffed animal.

Caroline found it somewhat amusing that Lizzie was taking this opportunity to reinvent herself, as she'd clearly figured out that if she got rid of something she didn't want any more under the guise of saving it for the baby, she'd get a new one of whatever she was giving away.

Caroline had anticipated that the idea of a new younger sibling would be the hardest adjustment for Lizzie, of the three girls. Hope was Klaus's firstborn, arguably the most special person in the supernatural world, adored by her father and his family, and her mother and her wolf pack. Josie was happier when she wasn't the center of attention, and as unfortunate and unfair as it was, she'd adapted to that reality, choosing to spend time with Finn, Kol, and Davina, rather than fighting her sister for Rebekah's or even Klaus's attention.

Caroline now realized that she had been wrong to never intervene in Rebekah's treatment of Lizzie, and not just because hers and some of her siblings' favoritism had negatively impacted Josie, though she hadn't said anything. When they'd first arrived in New Orleans, Caroline had just been so relieved that the Mikaelsons seemed to like the twins that she hadn't wanted to complain, but Lizzie had grown used to wearing the pink dresses that they bought for her and letting them dress her up as their little princess Barbie doll, and now Lizzie was being rather unceremoniously replaced in that role, without warning, by her new baby sister. Lizzie had the opportunity to free herself from the feedback loop that rewarded her for choosing pink as her favorite color and wearing the pink dresses Rebekah picked out for her, and start to figure out what she really liked without outside factors influencing her choices, but that hadn't been Lizzie's choice. Caroline worried that Lizzie associated the love and attention that the Mikaelsons gave her with her willingness to wear what they wanted her to wear and act how they wanted her to act, and that she didn't feel confident that they would love her no matter what.

Although, their shopping spree that afternoon should at least start to reassure Lizzie that her family would love and accept her no matter what she liked or wore.

Caroline had planned to only get Lizzie a new doll and costume, but Klaus was both touched by Lizzie's actions and completely wrapped around her little finger, so he decided to buy her several new shirts, sweatshirts, and pajamas, inundating Lizzie's wardrobe with Rapunzel's signature shade of light purple, as well as a new comforter in the same color, patterned with suns, and a new stuffed animal friend: Maximus, the horse from _Tangled_ , leading to Klaus making comments about Lizzie inheriting Caroline's love for horses.

Not wanting to leave the other girls out, they'd also gotten costumes and dolls for Hope and Josie.

Caroline knew that after Belle, Josie's favorite 'princess' was Elsa, and so the little girl was now chasing after her twin wearing a bright blue dress decorated with blue glitter snowflakes.

For Hope, Klaus had selected the costume of the only other red-headed princess, Merida from _Brave_. He read the description of the movie, and found that he much preferred the idea of his daughter emulating a courageous girl who fought for her own destiny, to her current favorite character, who willfully defied her father and traded her voice—and in many respects, her agency—for a chance to satisfy her child-like curiosity and pursue a boy who had caught her eye. He bought her the teal-green dress, a matching doll, and even the little archery set, which Hope had been delighted by and hadn't set down since Klaus had handed it to her.

Klaus had also bought the baby a slightly smaller version of the stuffed Marie that he had bought Lizzie months ago, except since they had updated the stuffed animals since then, the cat's pink bow was now shimmery pink.

After storing the stuffed animal in the empty room that would eventually become the baby's nursery, Klaus and Caroline returned to the courtyard to supervise the girls while they played.

"Klaus," Lizzie skipped up to them. "Can we name the baby Aurora? Like the princess? Because Auntie Bekah called her a princess, and she said that she'll wear pink all the time, and Aurora is a princess that wears pink all the time, too."

Klaus looked caught off guard by the suggestion.

"I don't know about that, but I'd love to hear all of the ideas you have," he replied.

Lizzie pouted, running off without saying anything in reply.

"Sorry, I tried to tell her earlier, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings," Caroline said. "And I didn't think she'd understand if I told her that you wouldn't want to give the baby the same name as one of your former enemies."

Klaus somehow managed to look even more uncomfortable.

"Caroline, Aurora and I… had a history," Klaus started.

"Are you saying that you slept with her?" Caroline asked. "Like the situation with Genevieve?"

Klaus sighed.

"It wasn't exactly like that," he answered reluctantly.

"Did you love her?" Caroline asked uncertainly.

Klaus looked down at the ground as he spoke.

"I told her that I did," Klaus confessed. "And I thought that I did. If I did love her, it was only ever in the broken, twisted, destructive way that I was able at the time, and that's the same way that she loved me. We were drawn to each other out of self-loathing over the pain and damage that we had caused ourselves and others. I was still coming to terms with what I was and the devastation that the revelation that I was a hybrid caused my family, and Aurora suffered from mental illness in a time when that sort of thing wasn't talked about or treated. But you must know that I have never, and could never, love anyone as much as I love you. You are the love of my life, Caroline, and no one in my past could ever dream of competing with that."

It was Caroline's turn to sigh.

"I suppose it was silly of me to assume that in a thousand years, you'd never fallen in love with anyone before me," Caroline conceded with a half-hearted chuckle.

"So, you aren't angry?" Klaus confirmed.

"I'm not thrilled that you hadn't told me about this person that you loved until now, but I'm pregnant with your child, so you're kind of stuck with me at this point," Caroline shrugged. "If you were to find a way to wake her up from her curse and left us for her, then I would be angry. I have to keep my blood pressure down for the baby's sake, so I can't really afford to get upset about your romantic history, starting nine hundred years before I was born."

Klaus kissed her hand gently.

"I don't deserve you," he said softly.

"I think if you polled everyone living in this house, you'd find that many of them agree with that statement," Caroline remarked. "Now please go tell Lizzie that her suggestion was wonderful and inspired and we're adding it to the list."

"We don't have a list," Klaus seemed puzzled.

"Lizzie doesn't know that," Caroline told him.

Klaus chuckled and placed his hands on Caroline's stomach.

"You know, this one's a Mikaelson; she'll be harder to fool," he commented.

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," Caroline replied.

Klaus jogged over to where Lizzie stood, scooping her up in his arms, making her giggle as he spun her around.

Footsteps approached from behind Caroline.

Rebekah, Katherine, and Freya joined the girls, while Elijah stood next to Caroline.

"All I've ever wanted for my brother was for him to realize that he is worthy of unconditional love," he told her. "I thought that it would be Hope who accomplished it, but it was you, and it's been you all along, hasn't it? This child proves it. I'm not sure I've ever seen him happier than when he looked at you a moment ago."

"That's a lot to live up to," Caroline said.

"I know, and I was wrong to expect Hope to be Niklaus's savior, his redemption, the only hope for this family, and now she cannot escape the responsibilities I forced upon her with the name I gave her," Elijah responded. "So, I promise you, I may not spoil her the way Rebekah will, or teach her the way Freya will, or make her laugh the way Kol will, but I promise you that there will be no child in the world more eternally loved or fiercely protected than yours. Hope is a fighter, she has been since before she was born. I pray that your daughter never has to fight a day in her life."

"Thank you, Elijah," Caroline said.

Klaus chose that moment to walk back over to Caroline.

"What did my brother have to say for himself?" Klaus asked.

Caroline had inferred that what Elijah had told her was not meant for Klaus to hear, so she decided to keep it to herself.

"He was just saying that he's happy for us," Caroline told him. "I hope she doesn't inherit your paranoia."

"This child is a Mikaelson, Caroline, the poor thing never had a chance: we're born paranoid," Elijah stated. "And with that, I will excuse myself."

He turned around and went back inside the house.

As Caroline watched the girls play with their aunts, she felt an all-encompassing sense of peace wash over her. They had defeated the evil witch, and there was nothing standing in the way of their happiness. She was standing next to the love of her life, watching their children play, as he wrapped his arms around her gently like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, his hands covering her stomach where their baby grew.

Katherine was right: this was the fairy-tale ending she'd always wished for, and their immortality meant it never had to end.

"Thank you," Caroline said quietly to Klaus.

"For what?" Klaus asked.

"For this life."

* * *

All that's left is the epilogue...

Aurora would have been such a great name for the baby if not for the TO character… Fun fact, my first choice name for a Klaroline baby girl would have been Lucie, after a main character of _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens, the novel which this story's name comes from. The name means 'full of light' and the character herself is the epitome of light, goodness, and perfection, and since Klaus mentioned that Caroline would have liked Dickens on the show, I thought it would be a nice reference. Alas, Lucie is too close to Lizzie, so I can't use it. Aurora would have been my second choice, because it's the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn (hence, light, and new beginnings), thus keeping with the naming pattern Klaus started with Marcel's name, and I love the idea of the girls suggesting names for their baby sister, and wanting to name her after a Disney princess. But I can't use the name because of the TO character (also, in the movie, Aurora's father's name is... Stefan. Seriously, I couldn't make that up). So, the name I ended up choosing is actually my third choice name.

Sorry, I just really love names and could talk about name meanings all day.

Again, the epilogue will be posted as soon as possible.

Please let me know what you think of my idea for the sequel to this story, and you can start sending in requests now if you have them!

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte


	38. Epilogue: A Life You Love

Hello lovely readers!

Here's the epilogue you've all been waiting for—for much longer than I thought you would have to wait, so I'm very sorry about that, but it is over 45,000 words long, so hopefully the extensive length helps to make up for the long wait. I also sort of love that I was able to finish and post this epilogue today, so that I can say it took me less than a year to write this story—even if only by less than twenty-four hours.

Thank you with all my heart to everyone who voted for Sanctuary in their Hearts in the Klaroline Awards! Thanks to you, this story won the award for Best Debut Fiction! I am so grateful and honored to have won this award, and I'm so happy that I have such lovely, passionate, dedicated readers who love reading this story as much as I love writing it! Again, thank you with all my heart to everyone who voted, read, reviewed, followed, favorited, and recommended this story!

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter, and for all of the suggestions for the sequel! I'm really looking forward to writing it, and I'm so happy that you are looking forward to reading it as well!

Thank you also for four hundred followers on this story! It's insane to me that four hundred people want to be alerted when I post my writing! I am forever amazed and grateful for your commitment to this story!

The epilogue is titled, "A Life You Love," which is special for two reasons: it comes from a quote from _A Tale of Two Cities_ , like the title of this story, and (drumroll, please) it's also the title of the sequel! This epilogue gives this story its happy ending, while also serving as the starting point for the sequel, hence the double duty for the title.

The epilogue is the first and only installment in this story to feature flashbacks, which, for your convenience, are in italics and labelled with the date that they occur as well as when they occur relative to the current time in the epilogue.

Another thing: I know I said I was ignoring seasons four and five of _The Originals_ in this story, however, I am considering the flashback scene in episode eight of the last season in which Klaus and Hayley name Hope as canon in the universe of this story, since technically the scene occurred sometime during the season one finale, and the scene only really serves to retroactively establish as fact something that has been true for the previous three seasons. So, if you haven't yet seen that episode, or if you (wisely) chose not to watch the final season of _The Originals_ , all you need to know is that after Klaus told Hayley what Elijah had said about her and the baby being the family's only hope, Hayley decided to name their daughter Hope, then Klaus added Hayley's birth name, Andrea, as Hope's middle name. I don't particularly like the name or Klaus's reasons for suggesting it, but I also don't want to contradict something that was explicitly stated on the show.

Speaking of middle names, I made some up for the twins, because the subject does come up when Caroline is brainstorming names for her and Klaus's daughter, and I do think that they have middle names (since most people do), we just don't know what they are because it's obviously more important to the story that their first names are in honor of their mother and Caroline's mother, respectively. I assume that Alaric just gave them common, sort of generic middle names off screen, probably before he introduced them to Caroline. So I hope all of you are okay with me just picking middle names for them (after giving it some thought, and consulting my resident name expert, Artemis, I ended up giving them my two living aunts' middle names), and I'm not going to watch _Legacies_ , so even if they tell us what the twins' middle names are in the first episode, I won't know and I won't change the ones they have in this story, but if that happens and it will really bother you if they have the 'wrong' middle names, send me a message and I can use the 'correct' ones going forward.

Also, I'm intentionally sort of vague with regards to the legal standing of the characters, because the show is sort of fuzzy on those details. For example, since the Originals were born a thousand years ago, we can all be certain that there is no actual record of their birth. But since Caroline was born human, to human parents, in the '90s, we know that she must have a birth certificate, Social Security number, driver's license, etc. Since the twins were born in a hospital, with a human father determined to have a normal human life, I assume that they have proper records as well, but since Hope was born in a church with her parents as the only living witnesses, she probably doesn't. With no textual evidence to confirm anything, I'm just sort of making educated guesses based on what I think makes the most sense. So when it comes to legal issues like marriage and adoption, please just go with it, thank you.

Similarly, while I did refer to season seven of _The Vampire Diaries_ to refresh my memory regarding Caroline's pregnancy with the twins, there isn't exactly a wealth of information and precedent on the topic of vampire pregnancy, and many of the complications that Caroline experienced then wouldn't apply in this case because this child isn't a siphoner. So this is another instance where I am requesting that you accept any details that might seem inconsistent with a normal human pregnancy (which I also researched, though I apologize for any inaccuracies; I consulted multiple sources, some of which offered conflicting information, and I don't have specialized education or personal experience in this field) and/or Caroline's first pregnancy as true in this particular scenario.

Here's my last disclaimer for this story: there are several references to movies, music, and other fictional characters, and I don't own any of them. There are also some words that are a part of a legal proceeding that were either inspired by or copied from an internet source with extensive information on said legal proceeding (I'm trying really hard to avoid spoilers, even though you can probably figure out what I'm referring to).

I hope that with this epilogue, I have given you a conclusion that answers any questions you still may have, is worthy of the time you have spent reading this story and investing in its characters, and gives you the happy ending that you deserve after supporting these characters and following along on their journey for so long.

For the last time for this story, happy reading!

* * *

"…when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!"

~Sidney Carton, _A Tale of Two Cities_

* * *

November 7, 2020 (three years later)

Caroline was wearing a wedding dress. The perfect wedding dress that she would have chosen even if she had her choice of ever wedding dress ever made and unlimited time to choose. It was made of satin in a warm, creamy ivory that made her skin glow and would give off a slight shimmer under the lights, with a sweetheart neckline that was covered by the lace overlay of the dress where it connected to the sheer lace sleeves. After weeks of dress shopping with her bridesmaids and her children, and months of waiting for the customizations and alterations to be completed, every detail, from the pearl buttons down her back to the small train sweeping out behind her, was perfect.

The problem Caroline was currently facing had nothing to do with her dress, or her flowers, or her jewelry.

Caroline's problem was that her flower girl was missing.

"Have you seen your sister?" Caroline asked Hope, who was already wearing her pink lace bridesmaid's dress.

"She ran off as soon as Auntie Bekah finished getting her dressed," the eight-year-old answered. "She said something about needing to give Dad a hug, or something. I don't know."

"Of course she wants to go be with your dad, I don't spoil her the way he does," Caroline complained.

Victoria Grace Mikaelson had replaced Caroline as the love of Klaus's life the moment she was born. In the two years, four months, and four days that their baby had been alive, Klaus had made sure that she wanted for nothing. He gifted her love, attention, any possession she asked for as easily as he drew breath.

"Or it's because this is the longest she's ever gone without seeing her father, and since she isn't exactly an expert on wedding traditions, she doesn't understand why," Rebekah interjected. "Relax, Caroline, we will find her and bring her back here in time. Today is your wedding day, everything has been perfectly planned and executed, and nothing can derail your perfect day, not even a runaway toddler."

Caroline sighed.

"Since you're ready, will you please go retrieve her?" Caroline asked Hope.

Hayley had stopped by that morning to help get her daughter ready, lingering only long enough to fasten the pink pearl buttons on Hope's bridesmaids' dress and curl her hair, then left to meet Jackson and join the other guests.

The adult bridesmaids had formed something of a buddy system to get the child bridesmaids ready. Freya was helping Lizzie, Davina was helping Josie, and Rebekah was helping Victoria, leaving Katherine and Bonnie to help Caroline get ready.

"Okay," Hope agreed.

"I can go get her, it is my responsibility to get her ready," Rebekah offered.

"It's okay, Hope probably wants to say hi to her dad, too," Caroline replied. "You should start praying that Victoria hasn't managed to get her dress dirty."

Rebekah stared, wide-eyed, as the possibility occurred to her.

Hope left the room, seeing the urgency on Caroline's and Rebekah's faces.

"How is it that no one saw a two-year-old wandering down the hall and, I don't know, tried to stop her and find out where her parents were?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

"There are enough of us that Nik needed to reserve the whole floor," Rebekah answered.

From the moment that Caroline started to plan her wedding, she knew that she wanted it to be an opulent affair worthy of royalty. Klaus, as usual, had offered no opinion of his own and insisted that Caroline get whatever she wanted.

Caroline's search for the perfect wedding venue had come to a sudden end when she had fallen in love with the Roosevelt Hotel. It was elegant and decadent, with its gold interior and intricately detailed décor. The luxury hotel looked like something right out of _The Great Gatsby_ , and Caroline was certain from the moment she stepped through the doors that it was where she wanted to get married.

Klaus had asked her multiple times if she wouldn't rather have a destination wedding, anywhere in the world of her choosing, but Caroline didn't want their children to have to miss several days of school to attend their parents' wedding.

Once Caroline had made the argument that, as lovely as it would be to get married in Paris, New Orleans was their home—it was where their family lived, where their daughter was born, where they'd finally confessed their love, where Klaus had proposed—Klaus was happy to agree to Caroline's choice of venue.

They had decided that all of them would spend the night in the hotel the night before the wedding, for the convenience of not having to coordinate transportation for their extensive wedding party, and to take advantage of the amenities that the hotel offered.

The previous day, Caroline, her bridesmaids, and her youngest daughter had eaten lunch in the hotel's restaurant, then once Caroline picked Lizzie, Josie, and Hope up from school, the entire bridal party had gotten manicures, pedicures, massages, and facials at the hotel's spa before attending the rehearsal dinner in the ballroom that evening.

When it had been time to go up to their rooms after the rehearsal dinner, Katherine had suggested having a slumber party with all of the bridesmaids, but Caroline had steadfastly refused, not wanting anyone to look tired or hungover in her wedding photos. As they'd retired to their rooms, Caroline hadn't noticed that all of the rooms between the Bridal Suite, where she'd slept the night before and where she and her bridesmaids were getting ready now, and the Grooms' Suite where Klaus had stayed and where he and his groomsmen were getting ready, were occupied by the numerous members of their family.

"Put me down! Hope, put me down!" came a high-pitched squeal from the doorway.

Hope was carrying her youngest sister into the room, and Victoria was not happy about it.

Hope set Victoria down in front of Caroline. Looking up to see her mother staring at her disapprovingly, Victoria's wide eyes blinked rapidly and she quickly painted on a wide, charming smile.

"Hi, Mommy!" the little girl exclaimed.

Caroline knew that she was biased, but Victoria was at least as gorgeous as Esther promised that she would be, and possibly even the most gorgeous little girl on the planet.

Victoria had perfect blonde ringlets just a shade darker and more golden than Caroline's, which Caroline had never had the heart to cut, so they hung well past her shoulders. She had a little round face, a tiny delicate nose, and a sweet smile that could melt the hardest of hearts. Thanks to the unusual circumstances surrounding her birth, Klaus and Caroline had known almost everything about what their daughter would look like before she was born, but they were still surprised by one detail about Victoria's appearance: though her stunning silver eyes were uniquely hers—a carefully selected variation on the blue-eyed gene she inherited from both her parents—their large round shape was a perfect copy of Rebekah's.

Caroline, who'd spent years envying Elena's doe eyes, was thrilled that her daughter hadn't inherited a feature that had caused her so much insecurity. Rebekah was overjoyed to see that her niece bore this noticeable resemblance to her.

As for Klaus, it didn't really matter to him. Once his baby girl started batting her eyelashes at him, he was toast.

"Hi, princess," Caroline couldn't help but smile. "You know that it scares Mommy when you run off."

"I'm sorry," Victoria offered.

"Today is a very important day for Mommy and Daddy, so I need you to see where I can see you for the rest of the day, okay?" Caroline instructed.

"Okay," Victoria nodded.

"Great, now that the magically disappearing flower girl has returned, we can get back to getting ready," Katherine said. "We do have something of a tight timeline, you know."

"Wait, Mommy!" Victoria cried out, holding out a small black velvet jewelry box that Caroline hadn't noticed that she was holding. "It's from Daddy."

Caroline took the box from her daughter, removing the small card that was attached to it. Flipping open the card, Caroline was greeted by Klaus's familiar handwriting.

 _My Love,_

 _The most precious gifts I have ever received have all been gifted to me by you: your love, our beautiful daughter, and now your hand in marriage. This in no way compares, but please accept it as a token of my infinite, eternal love for you. I'm told that you require something new._

 _Always yours,_

 _Klaus_

Caroline opened the jewelry box.

"Okay, who told him?" she asked the room at large.

"What are you talking about?" Rebekah asked.

Caroline turned the box around to show them the contents: an elegant necklace consisting of a gold outline of a heart covered with diamonds, which was surrounded by about ten small light pink pearls on either side, with a delicate gold chain making up the rest; and matching earrings made of light pink pearl studs with diamond-encrusted gold heart outlines dangling from them.

"Those are so pretty!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"And they will fit perfectly with the neckline of my dress, which he shouldn't know," Caroline said. "He also didn't send a matching bracelet, presumably because he knows that I have long sleeves!"

Caroline was wearing her spelled bracelet, which she never took off, under the sheer lace sleeves of her dress, but she hadn't planned on wearing bracelets as part of her wedding jewelry because they wouldn't be visible with her long sleeves. The sheer lace part of the dress reached up to cover her collarbone, then opened to the top of the satin body of the dress in a narrow, U-shaped neckline, where the necklace that Klaus had given her would fit perfectly—so perfectly, in fact, that Caroline was certain that the necklace had been specially made for her dress, so that where the necklace was visible, it looked like an ordinary pearl necklace, while the thin gold chain would be invisible and lay flat without adding any bulk underneath the lace of the neckline. Caroline couldn't even really be annoyed with Klaus for knowing what her dress looked like before he had seen it, since that information had helped him give her the perfect wedding gift.

"Or he just knows you really well?" Katherine suggested rhetorically. "Considering you admired Grace Kelly enough to name your kid after her, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine that you might have taken some inspiration from her wedding dress when you were choosing yours."

Caroline smiled, thinking of another reason Klaus would know how much she admired Princess Grace. To her, Princess Grace was the epitome of beauty, and class, and, well, grace. She was Hollywood royalty during its Golden Age, and then actual royalty when she became the Princess of Monaco. She was everything Caroline would ever admire or aspire to be.

It only made sense that Caroline would want to emulate the person that she admired so much on a day that was as important to her as her wedding day. And Klaus would know that, because on another important day in Caroline's life, she'd asked him to help make that happen for her.

It had been the first time she'd ever asked him for help. Sure, she'd sought him out to spend time with him, asked for favors, taken advantage of his feelings for her, traded her time as part of some scheme before, but this was the first time that she had gone to him, with no ulterior motive, because she genuinely believed that he was the only one who could help her.

She'd stormed into his house like she owned the place, knowing that he would never turn her away. And even though he had been sulking alone when she'd walked in, she'd managed to put a smile on his face within minutes. He'd laughed at her when she'd explained the plight of her stolen prom dress. He found the entire premise of prom laughable and trivial, yet as soon as she'd asked for his help, he had leapt into action to give her exactly what she wanted.

' _I want to look_ _hot._ _Like Princess-Grace-of-Monaco-hot.'_

She'd made her demand and he'd fulfilled it as if it was the most important task on his to-do list. For someone who probably would have never given any thought to prom if it wasn't for her, Klaus had been dedicated to doing all he could to make sure Caroline had an enjoyable prom experience, starting with the perfect dress. When he would gain nothing from helping her, he had gone out of his way to make her prom night perfect.

 _'_ _In the shared interest of giving Caroline the night of her dreams…'_

She hadn't meant to overhear. There were times in the days and months that followed that she wished she hadn't heard. That Klaus had temporarily abandoned his revenge when it was within his reach, just to make her happy.

"You're right, he would have known," Caroline agreed.

"Now that that's settled, come here, I need to finish your hair," Katherine ordered.

"Wait," Rebekah interjected. She took the necklace from Caroline, stepping behind her to clasp it around her neck. Caroline kept the earrings in their box, not wanting them to get in the way while Katherine did her hair.

Caroline sat down in a chair in front of a lighted vanity mirror, examining her appearance as Katherine brandished a curling iron above her head.

Katherine and Bonnie finished doing her makeup before she put her wedding dress on, but she (and Victoria) were too excited to wait for them to finish doing her hair before putting on the dress.

Her blue eyes looked luminous under the champagne pink shimmer that Katherine had brushed on her eyelids, with mascara and a thin line of eyeliner grounding her eyes while making her eyelashes look long and full. Her cheeks were a rosy pink that betrayed her excitement. Bonnie had painted her lips with a sheer pink stain, then added a shimmery pink gloss. She looked like herself, with a little extra polish and shine, and Caroline couldn't remember a time she'd felt happier with the way she looked.

Caroline glanced at Katherine in the mirror as she wrapped strands of Caroline's blonde hair around the curling iron. Caroline had grown out her hair since she moved to New Orleans, and it now reached the bottom of her rib cage, which meant it was going to take a long time for Katherine to finish.

Fortunately, her helpers had accounted for that, as Bonnie pulled out an identical curling iron and went to work on the opposite side of Caroline's head.

With nothing to do but wait until they were finished, Caroline decided to check in with the rest of her bridal party.

"I haven't heard the sound of six-year-olds complaining in a while, is everything okay, or did Freya put a silencing spell on the twins?" Caroline asked, only partly joking.

Freya laughed in response.

"No magic. I just told them that they needed to be very still while we curled their hair or they might get burned," she answered.

Caroline still sometimes found it hard to believe that the twins were six years old—twice as old as they had been when she'd brought them to New Orleans. They were happy, healthy, doing well in school, and thriving under the tutelage of the Mikaelson and Bennett witches teaching them to use their magic.

They weren't her babies anymore; they were becoming little ladies with their own personalities and interests.

She couldn't see them in the mirror, and she couldn't turn her head with Katherine and Bonnie each pulling sections of her long hair and wrapping them around a curling iron, but it didn't surprise her to hear that despite their previous complaints, they were cooperating and sitting still, unlike their baby sister, who was spinning in circles just to watch the pink lace material of her dress fly up around her as she twirled.

Rebekah had her hands full trying to supervise Victoria, who was naturally vivacious and enthusiastic already, as excited as she was at the prospect of wearing a fancy dress and spending the day playing dress-up with her mother, sisters, and aunts, then going to a special party with her family, even if she wasn't old enough yet to fully understand the life-changing significance of a wedding.

To Victoria, the wedding actually had very little significance. No ceremony or legal document changed the fact that Caroline was her mother, Klaus was her father, and her mother and father were in love; or that Hope, Josie, and Lizzie were her sisters. Her aunts and uncles, Marcel, Vincent, Josh and Aiden, wouldn't adore her any more after the reception than they did at the moment, since Caroline was certain that it would be impossible for them to love Victoria any more than they already did.

Hope was gaining a stepmother and two stepsisters, but she'd considered the twins her sisters for years, she'd been campaigning for Klaus to marry Caroline for almost as long, and she already had one stepparent who she loved. Unlike most children whose parents weren't together, Hope had no fantasies of her parents reconciling. Even from a young age, she was mature enough to recognize that Klaus and Hayley had never been in love, and wanted them to be happy apart, with new partners that they did love, rather than unhappy, pretending to like each other for her sake.

Lizzie and Josie had considered Hope their sister for half their lives, and Klaus was their father for all intents and purposes. The only difference was that after the wedding, they would officially be a family, since Klaus was going to adopt the twins.

Several minutes later, Davina announced that she was finished helping Josie get ready. After Josie got up and wandered away, Davina started quickly wrapping strands of her own wavy hair around the curling iron in order to achieve the same perfect ringlets as everyone else. Only Victoria's and Katherine's naturally curly hair already fit Caroline's vision for her bridesmaids.

By the time Freya was finished with Lizzie's hair, which was the longest of the four girls', Hope and Josie had engaged Victoria in a game of Twenty Questions in an attempt to get her to sit still.

"Okay, I'm finished," Freya announced triumphantly. "Can we get the girls to come over here to get final approval from the bride?"

The four girls obediently lined up in front of Caroline for inspection.

The junior bridesmaids' dresses were cotton candy pink lace confections with cap sleeves, high rounded necklines, pink pearl buttons down the back, and silk ribbons in the same color wrapped around the waist and tied into perfect bows in the back. They were each wearing headbands made from the same material as the sashes on their dresses, with the front sections of their hair twisted back and tied with little bows made from matching ribbons. Though they were barely visible under their floor-length dresses, the ballet flats they were all wearing matched as well. They had each been given simple pink pearl jewelry to wear—a thin strand of pearls around their necks and each wrist, and a pair of matching stud earrings—in addition to the spelled lockets they never took off.

Victoria's flower girl dress was nearly identical, except it was tea-length rather than floor-length to accommodate her shorter height, and her shoes, jewelry, and hairstyle were exactly the same.

"They're perfect!" Caroline cried.

"You can't cry or you'll mess up your makeup," Katherine scolded.

"Sorry," Caroline replied.

"They're perfect!" Caroline repeated enthusiastically.

Victoria clapped her hands happily.

"Now that the girls are ready, we're going to get dressed," Freya announced, picking up the garment bag containing her dress, then the ones on either side of it containing Davina's and Rebekah's.

As part of the gifts Caroline had bought for her bridal party, she'd given them all pink garment bags embroidered with their initials in fancy script writing, decorated with tiny, ornate crowns, all enclosed in the outline of a heart, using sparkly gold thread. She'd also given them matching pink silk robes for them to wear while they were getting ready, that were decorated just like the garment bags in the front, and had a larger version of the gold crowns, each girl's name written in fancy script, and the date written in the outline of a heart across the back. Rebekah, Freya, Katherine, Bonnie, and Davina were still wearing theirs, while Caroline's (yes, she'd gotten one of each of their gifts for herself as well), Victoria's, Lizzie's, Josie's, and Hope's were hanging from a portable closet rod that Katherine had convinced the concierge to bring to the room.

Victoria toddled over to the rack, tugging gently on one of the sleeves.

"Mommy?" Victoria asked, but Caroline couldn't turn to look at her with Katherine and Bonnie working on her hair.

"Auntie Bekah?" Victoria tried again.

"Yes, princess?" Rebekah answered.

"Where is mine?" Victoria pointed to the robes.

"Here it is," Rebekah pulled Victoria's tiny robe from between Caroline's and one of the twins, where it had been hidden between the larger sizes. She held it out so that the back was facing Victoria, pointing to where her name was embroidered.

"See?" Rebekah pointed to each letter of Victoria's name as she said it aloud, spelling it out for the two-year-old who was still too young to be able to read the fancy script writing.

"You know, Victoria, your name is very special," Rebekah told her niece. "Your mother named you after a queen and a goddess, so that you would have a name that's as special and important as you are."

{ }

 _November 17, 2017 (three years earlier) _

_"_ _Klaus?" Caroline tried to get his attention, which was unnecessary, since Klaus's attention rarely wavered from her. In the month since they'd discovered that she was pregnant, Klaus had become even more protective over her than he usually was. The only time she got complete privacy was when she was in the bathroom. Klaus's incessant hovering was almost as adorable as it was irritating._

 _"_ _Yes, my love?" Klaus answered._

 _Caroline sat at the dining room table, a baby name book open in front of her._

 _Rebekah, Elijah, Katherine, Freya, and Bonnie were also in the room, but they were all engaged in their own conversations and plans._

 _"_ _Does Hope have a middle name?" Caroline asked._

 _Klaus looked almost embarrassed for a second before the expression vanished from his face._

 _"_ _She does, actually. It's Andrea," Klaus answered._

 _"_ _Andrea," Caroline repeated. "What made you choose that?"_

 _"_ _It's my name," Hayley announced from the doorway._

 _"_ _Wow, I didn't even hear you come in," Caroline said. "I think the vampire equivalent of pregnancy brain is your supernatural abilities getting dull."_

 _"_ _Are you all right?" Klaus immediately asked._

 _"_ _I'm fine," Caroline reassured him. "I'm just going to be a little less sharp for the next eight months. Your daughter is taking oxygen from my brain, so it's just something I have to live with."_

 _"_ _Is that really what's happening to you? That sounds dangerous," Klaus panicked. "There has to be something we can do to fix this. I won't allow you to suffer."_

 _"_ _I'm not suffering, I am experiencing a totally normal side effect of creating a human inside my body. This is the miracle of life at work, so please take a chill pill, and then explain why Hayley has two names," Caroline ordered._

 _"_ _My birth parents named me Andrea Labonair," Hayley explained. "The Labonairs were one of the royal families of the Crescent Wolf Pack. That's why I'm the Alpha, or the Queen, as I know you like to call me. After my parents died, my adoptive parents renamed me Hayley and gave me their last name, Marshall. When I got to New Orleans, I was able to locate the rest of the Crescent Wolves, and in the bayou, I found a record of the Labonair family, and the last name written, Andrea, had been born on my birth date. Later, I met Jackson and he confirmed my identity. I guess, to me, Andrea represents who I was supposed to be, if my parents hadn't died, if I hadn't been adopted. I would have grown up with a family, as the princess of the pack, knowing that I was a werewolf and that I would grow up to be the Alpha. That's what I wanted for my daughter, and she has all of it. As much as I wanted her to have that name and everything that it means to me, I don't think I would have suggested it on my own, so I was touched when Klaus suggested it as Hope's middle name."_

 _Caroline looked over at Klaus._

 _"_ _That was very sweet and thoughtful of you," Caroline praised. "But Elijah said that he chose Hope's name, so does that mean that you didn't get any say in Hope's name?" Caroline asked Hayley._

 _Hayley shook her head._

 _"_ _No, I named Hope," she corrected. "We were trying to come up with a name, when Klaus mentioned that, when I was dead and Hope had been taken, Elijah had told him that they had lost their family's only hope. When we say that Elijah gave Hope her name, we really just mean that he inspired it, he gave me the idea. It wasn't the first time he said something like that, and he didn't say it intending for us to name her Hope. He probably would have called her the family's hope no matter what her name was."_

 _"_ _Okay, so I'm going to need Elijah to be very quiet and not make any statements that contain girls' names until I pick out a name," Caroline said._

 _A few people chuckled, even though Caroline hadn't been joking._

 _"_ _You've never given any indication that you didn't like Hope's name," Klaus remarked._

 _"_ _I don't dislike Hope's name," Caroline insisted. "It's a little like getting a puppy for your kids to try to teach them responsibility and then naming the puppy 'Responsibility,' but she isn't my child and I didn't name her, so I don't really get an opinion."_

 _"_ _Hope is in the courtyard, by the way," Hayley informed them. "I'm taking her home to the bayou for the weekend, but she has next week off of school for Thanksgiving, so I wanted to find out what your plans were and if we needed to make any special arrangements for Hope for the holiday."_

 _"_ _Good news, the Mikaelsons are celebrating Thanksgiving this year!" Caroline cheered. "This girl is already shaping up to be as big a fan of Thanksgiving as her mom, we've been craving sweet potatoes and cranberries all month," Caroline pointed to her stomach. "I don't know what the Crescent Wolves do for Thanksgiving, but you and Jackson are welcome to join us, and we've decided that the girls are too little for Black Friday shopping, so I'm staying home with them, because I'm a delicate little flower who can't survive the mall—" Caroline paused to glare at Klaus. "While Katherine, Rebekah, and Freya go."_

 _Hayley smiled._

 _"_ _I'm sure Hope would love to have Thanksgiving with all of her family, thank you Caroline," she said._

 _"_ _Then our usual arrangement need not change," Klaus declared. "You can take Hope home with you after Thanksgiving dinner, and I will pick her up from school on Monday, as always."_

 _"_ _Thanks. I'll let you get back to baby name brainstorming," Hayley said._

 _Klaus and Caroline followed Hayley into the courtyard to greet Hope, who was playing with her favorite toy, the little princess archery set that Klaus had bought her the previous month._

 _She was wearing the uniform of the private school that Klaus had enrolled her in just three weeks earlier: a red and white plaid pleated skirt, white tights, a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar, a red cardigan, and black t-strap shoes._

 _Hayley had fought with Klaus over sending Hope to private school. She hadn't wanted Klaus to make a financial commitment of that magnitude, knowing full well that she couldn't afford to pay her fair share. Klaus insisted that he would pay the entirety of her tuition, which angered Hayley, who didn't want to be financially dependent on Klaus or deprive Hope of luxuries that he could afford but she couldn't. Hayley had only agreed once Klaus had made the argument that the exclusive private school, with its rigorous standards for both students and instructors and its secure gated campus, would ensure Hope's safety. In addition to the school's already stringent security, Klaus had compelled the headmistress to hire a number of his hybrids, who he'd ordered to serve as security guards, which confirmed that, while Hope wasn't the only supernatural child at the school, the administrators weren't on vervain to protect themselves from any vampire relatives that students may have._

 _Caroline had already agreed to enroll the twins in the school when they started kindergarten in two years, and the baby who wouldn't even be born until the next summer when she started school five years later._

 _Hayley walked over to Hope, who was still clutching her toy bow and arrow._

 _"_ _Now I'm curious," Klaus said. "What would you have named her?"_

 _Caroline looked at Hope, thinking for a moment._

 _"_ _Diana," Caroline answered matter-of-factly. "It means 'divine' and it's the name of the Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, the forests, wildlife, archery… which is perfect for a little werewolf princess and the miracle child of the most powerful creature on Earth, if you ask me, and it continues the pattern you started with Marcel's name of giving your children names that come from mythology. It's also the name of a much beloved princess of England, which is a good omen considering her position in the supernatural world. And last, but not least, it's Wonder Woman's name."_

 _Klaus and Hayley both looked at Caroline._

 _"_ _That would have been perfect, if only we'd thought of it," Klaus responded. "Not that I'm surprised that we didn't think of it, since we didn't even discuss what to name our daughter until after she was born."_

 _"_ _I'm not leaving it 'til the last minute like that," Caroline warned. "I want to have the baby's name picked out by New Year's."_

 _"_ _Diana Mikaelson," Hayley whispered almost reverently. "She could have been Diana Andrea, or even Diana Hope. My little huntress; princess of the bayou, queen of the forest and the moon," Hayley shook her head. "That is a really great name, Caroline, you should consider it for your daughter."_

 _Caroline shook her head._

 _"_ _This one isn't going to be a werewolf, remember?" Caroline reminded her. "And even if she had gotten to keep her werewolf gene, she still wouldn't be a werewolf princess like Hope is. Hope's werewolf royalty because of you, not because of Klaus. Plus, now I associate the name with Hope, so I don't think I would feel comfortable using it for her sister."_

 _"_ _Oh, right, I'm sorry, I forgot," Hayley quickly apologized, looking forlorn, as if she couldn't think of anything more horrible than not being a werewolf, and in Hayley's case, that was probably true._

 _"_ _Okay, well, Hope, it's time to go," Hayley said hurriedly. "Say goodbye to your dad and Caroline."_

 _Hope ran over to them and hugged them both as Hayley waited indulgently. After several minutes of hugs, promises to see each other again Monday morning since Hope didn't have school, and a five-year-old's explanation of Thanksgiving to her unborn baby sister, Hope and Hayley departed, hand-in-hand._

 _"_ _What about the twins?" Klaus asked once they had left. "Do they have middle names? I assume you're only asking about Hope's so that you can determine whether or not you need to choose one for our daughter."_

 _"_ _I wasn't sure how the Mikaelsons felt about the institution of middle names, since it isn't like they were popular a thousand years ago when you all were named," Caroline explained. "And yes, Alaric gave the twins middle names: Jenna and Carol."_

 _Klaus's eyes widened in a combination of shock, guilt, and suspicion._

 _"_ _As you would say: seriously?" he asked._

 _"_ _No, that was a joke," Caroline admitted with a laugh. "It would be way too weird for Alaric to name his daughter after her mother, his late wife, and then also name her after his girlfriend who died years earlier. And he didn't know or like Carol enough to name his daughter after her, plus Elizabeth Carol and Caroline Elizabeth are a little too matchy-matchy considering that Alaric had no intention of me being in the girls' lives at all after I gave birth to them."_

 _"_ _No one in your life anticipated that you would grow to love the children you'd carried, and found the idea of leaving those two little girls without a mother so soon after losing your own devastating?" Klaus wondered aloud, shaking his head. "How is it that none of your so-called friends knew anything about you?"_

 _"_ _This particular instance was more about him and less about me, I think," Caroline replied. "His plan was to move away from Mystic Falls, away from everything supernatural, so that he and the girls could start over and have a normal human life, and a vampire surrogate doesn't exactly fit into that vision."_

 _"_ _He really thought that he could just take the last two living members of the Gemini Coven and live a supernatural-free life?" Klaus asked incredulously. "And naming one of the twins after your mother was what, a 'thank you for carrying my children even though you were actually forced to against your will, but anyway, even though I appreciate this tremendous favor, I don't actually want my children or I to have anything to do with you from now on because you're a vampire' gift?"_

 _"_ _It must have been because of me, since it isn't like Alaric and my mom were best friends," Caroline pointed out. "But this is getting dangerously close to speaking ill of the dead, so enough. Since you asked, Josie's middle name is Marie, and Lizzie's is Lynn. At no point was I given a chance to make suggestions or asked my opinion."_

 _"_ _Well, I'm sure that you will come up with the perfect name for our baby girl," Klaus said, kissing her cheek affectionately._

{ }

 _December 28, 2017 (two years, eleven months earlier)_

 _Caroline pulled into the parking lot of her destination after driving for nearly two days. Her thousand-mile journey had been exhausting, but she'd finally arrived, after having to spend the night in Georgia and stopping for more snack runs and bathroom breaks than she could count._

 _She slowly lowered herself out of the drivers' seat of the car that Klaus had bought her for her birthday. This was the first time she'd driven the car, since usually she went out with either Klaus or Rebekah and they drove, but she'd managed to convince them both that this trip was something she needed to do on her own._

 _So the day after Christmas she'd packed enough clothes for a week, even though she'd only planned on being gone for three days, intending to leave first thing in the morning. However, by the time she'd finished getting the girls dressed, fed, and ready for their day, the baby had decided it was time for a mid-morning nap, and she didn't end up leaving until after lunch._

 _With her driving interrupted by a dozen stops and at least as many phone calls from Klaus, Caroline had only made it as far as Northwestern Georgia by nightfall. The next day, Caroline was able to get an earlier start, completing her journey and arriving at a familiar house around dinner time._

 _Which lead her to where she was now, standing in the parking lot of the Mystic Falls cemetery._

 _She walked around to the passenger seat of the car, where she'd placed the flowers she'd brought to place on her mother's grave._

 _Caroline took the flowers and carefully navigated the cemetery until she reached the place where her mother was laid to rest. She set the flowers down in front of the headstone, then carefully knelt next to them._

 _"_ _Hi, Mom. Your favorite daughter has come to visit you. I hope I'm not the only one who comes to see you and bring you flowers. Matt comes to check in on you sometimes, doesn't he? Or maybe Damon? Though if he doesn't come here anymore, that's my fault. Because I never told you this, but years ago, when I was human, Damon hurt me. He hurt me so badly, Mommy, but he was your friend and it seemed like you spent more time with him than you did with me, and I didn't know how to tell you that your stupid, desperate, shallow daughter had been abused by the only guy to ever act like he wanted her more than Elena, and that wasn't even true. And then everyone else forgot about it, and I felt like I had to forget about it too, or at least act like I had. Anyway, Klaus—I'd ask if you remembered Klaus, but how could anyone ever forget Klaus?—found out what Damon did to me, and he decided to get revenge on my behalf. I don't know what Klaus did to him, but I'm sure that he isn't my biggest fan right now, so I'm really sorry if he's taking that out on you by not visiting, I never wanted you get hurt._

 _"_ _But that isn't what I came here to talk to you about. The reason I haven't been here in a while is because I moved to New Orleans. It's a very long story, but it wasn't safe for us to stay in Mystic Falls, so I took the twins and I got out of town as quick as I could, and I took them to New Orleans because I knew that whatever happened, Klaus would be able to help me keep them safe. And I know that you never loved Klaus after what he did to Jenna, and Carol, and even Elena, but I love him, Mom, and he loves me. I've never loved anyone the way I love him, and no one has ever loved me as much as he does, with no conditions or reservations, like I'm the most important thing in the world to him._

 _"_ _Which brings me to my news, and my belated Christmas gift for you: I'm pregnant. I know what you're thinking: 'One unplanned vampire pregnancy was crazy enough, but two? How did this happen to you, Caroline?' So I'll tell you how it happened. Once again, I was a victim of witches interfering with my reproductive system. But this time, the witch who did this was the Original Witch—you remember Klaus's mom, Esther, right?—and she was powerful enough to do a fertility spell on me so that I would get pregnant again, but this time the baby is biologically mine. So congratulations, Grandma! It's a girl! I have no idea what to name her, since Alaric named one of the twins after you; and I have no idea what she's going to be like—I mean, half me and half Klaus, she might literally kill people with kindness; and I'm really nervous and I hate that you can't be here to meet this little girl, but I'm so, so happy about this baby, Mom, and I hope that wherever you are, you can be happy for me, too."_

 _Caroline rested her hand on her stomach, the slight bump invisible under her winter coat._

 _She spent the next few hours telling her mother all about Lizzie and Josie, the Mikaelsons, the council, and everything else about her life in New Orleans. She promised to come visit again after the baby was born so that she could introduce her to her grandmother._

 _She kept talking until her stomach growled._

 _"_ _Sorry, Mom," Caroline said. "The baby is reminding me that it is lunch time and she needs to be fed. You'll be delighted to know that this baby has to be at least as demanding as I was, so the Forbes genes are clearly strong in this one. I mean, she'll want cotton candy ice cream at three in the morning, not any other flavor, and it has to be pink, because if I buy a brand that dyes their cotton candy ice cream blue instead, she'll know and she won't be happy about it. Remind me to look up if babies can be allergic to blue food coloring, now I'm concerned. Okay, well, I'll talk to you again soon. I love you, Mom."_

 _And then Caroline got back into her car, ready to start the long drive home._

{ }

 _February 14, 2018 (two years, nine months earlier)_

 _"_ _How are my lovely Valentines this morning?" Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear the moment she woke up._

 _"_ _I'm tired," Caroline yawned. "Your daughter is currently training for the ballet, and I really wish she'd stop practicing her pirouettes while I'm trying to sleep."_

 _Klaus leaned down so that he was level with her baby bump._

 _"_ _Good morning, my littlest love," Klaus said. "And today, you're also my littlest Valentine. You know who else is my Valentine today? Your mother. So I would really appreciate it if you would move around a little less in there so that your mother can rest, because she's just trying to be as healthy as possible so that you can be as healthy as possible. And I'll know if you're doing what I asked because we get to see you today. Are you ready to get your picture taken? We'll see you soon. Your mother and I love you very much, littlest love."_

 _Caroline smiled._

 _"_ _What's that smile for?" Klaus asked._

 _"_ _You're just so sweet," Caroline said._

 _Klaus looked insulted._

 _"_ _Did you just call me 'sweet?'" he asked, incredulous._

 _"_ _Yes!" Caroline laughed. "You talk to the baby multiple times a day, you've read all of my pregnancy books, you've downloaded a pregnancy app that tells you about the baby's development every week, you've bought almost as many clothes and toys for her as Rebekah has, and I know that you're working on paintings to hang in her room."_

 _"_ _I couldn't let Rebekah purchase another thing without taking action," Klaus insisted. "The poor girl would have a year's worth of outfits that say 'My Auntie Loves Me" and none that mention any other family member, and I can't have my daughter thinking that Rebekah is the only person in this family who loves her."_

 _"_ _Which would be a really big problem if she could read," Caroline pointed out. "And she won't know who bought them, so for all she knows, it could be Rebekah, or Freya, or Katherine, or Davina, or Bonnie. Or all of them. She's plenty loved, even if she doesn't happen to have any clothes that say so."_

 _"_ _Still," Klaus relented. "She can look at pictures when she's older and know that Rebekah wasn't the only one who cared enough to shop for her."_

 _"_ _A valiant effort, but no one shops as much as Bekah," Caroline said. "The baby's room is full of clothes and stuffed animals and shoes and toys, and I won't even give birth for another four months at least."_

 _Rebekah had taken her promise to buy her niece so many pink outfits that she would never have to wear any of them twice very seriously. The baby's room was overrun with massive piles of dresses made with pink lace, pink onesies patterned with hearts, pink jackets with small heart-shaped buttons, and all sorts of other tiny pink clothing. It seemed that every time Rebekah left the dress, even if she hadn't intended to go shopping while she was out, she would inevitably return with a little pink hair bow, or set of pink pajamas, or bibs with cute sayings written across them. It was like she genuinely couldn't help herself._

 _"_ _We could go shopping after my doctor's appointment if you want?" Caroline offered._

 _Klaus was still convinced that Caroline should never experience inconvenience or hardship, or have to do anything other than exactly what she wanted to do, for the entire duration of her pregnancy. If she wanted to go somewhere or do something, she had to be the one to suggest it, because Klaus refused to ask her for anything._

 _"_ _If you would like to go shopping, then of course we can," Klaus agreed._

 _Caroline quickly got up and got ready for the day, showering and then dressing in a festive pink sweater decorated with a heart made of red sequins and red velvet maternity trousers. Caroline had stubbornly refused to wear maternity clothes until the rest of her regular clothes had threatened to rip at the seams if she tried to put them on, but now that she had a noticeable baby bump, she had no choice._

 _When Caroline went downstairs, all three girls were already dressed and eating cereal for breakfast while searching through the pink gift baskets she'd made for them for Valentine's Day, which were filled with seasonal candy, school supplies, hair accessories, socks, and other little gifts. She'd made sure to label each girl's basket with their name so that they wouldn't fight over whose was whose, even though the contents were nearly identical, only occasionally varying in color._

 _Predictably, fellow early-riser Elijah and a reluctant-looking, yawning Katherine were also seated at the table._

 _"_ _Hi Mommy," Lizzie greeted. "Is the baby's check-up today?"_

 _"_ _It is," Caroline answered._

 _"_ _Okay, we were thinking that you should name the baby Tiana, because Tiana lives in New Orleans, and we live in New Orleans," Lizzie announced._

 _Caroline smiled. Lizzie had been suggesting names of Disney princesses for her sister for months now. At this most recent one was a reasonable suggestion. She'd also proposed naming the baby Cinderella or Rapunzel when she found out she would have blonde hair._

 _"_ _That's a great name, sweetheart, I'll add it to the list," Caroline replied._

 _She had wanted to choose the baby's name before the New Year, but that hadn't ended up happening. She would readily admit that as a human teenager, she had already had the names of her future children picked out, but now none of the trendy names she'd liked in 2007 seemed good enough or important enough for her daughter, who was also the daughter of the Original Hybrid—supernatural royalty._

 _"_ _Are you ready for school, littlest wolf?" Klaus asked Hope as he walked into the room._

 _Hope shook her head and dashed off to brush her teeth._

 _"_ _Don't forget the valentines we made for your class!" Caroline called after her._

 _After Hope and Klaus had left, Caroline addressed the twins._

 _"_ _This morning, Klaus and I are going to the doctor for the baby's check-up, and then we're going to go out to lunch, and then we're going to go shopping to buy some clothes for the baby. So I need you two to please be good for, I think it's Freya, Bonnie, and Finn who are twin-sitting today," Caroline told them._

 _"_ _Yes, Mommy," they agreed._

 _Josie and Lizzie were clearly more interested in their baskets than what she was saying. Like Caroline, they were dressed festively for the holiday, with Lizzie in a white shirt covered with hearts in a number of shades of red and pink, and Josie in a red shirt with a large white heart with two puppies with hearts in their eyes and the caption 'Puppy Love' in it._

 _Caroline also planned to look for some birthday gifts for the twins while she was out. She knew they were excited to turn four next month, but that it would be also an emotional day for the three of them, as it would be the twins' first birthday after Alaric's death._

 _By the time Klaus returned from taking Hope to school, all of the twins' babysitters (though they insisted that they were no longer babies whenever anyone called the family members responsible for supervising them while Caroline was out 'babysitters') had come downstairs._

 _After a few minutes of conversation, and strict instructions to make sure Lizzie and Josie didn't spend the entire day eating candy (partly so that they wouldn't get a sugar high, and partly so that they wouldn't cry when all of theirs was gone and Hope still had a full basket), it was time for Klaus and Caroline to leave for their appointment._

 _At Klaus's insistence, Caroline's medical care for the duration of her pregnancy was being overseen by the best obstetrician in the city, who had been either compelled or bribed not to notice Caroline's not-exactly-human characteristics._

 _While they waited for the doctor, Caroline perused a new baby name book, which, unlike her other books, listed names in categories rather than in alphabetical order. She found herself particularly drawn to the 'Goddesses' and 'Real Life Royalty' categories. She was just reaching into her purse for a pen and pad of paper so that she could write down her favorite names from each category when a nurse called her name._

 _Klaus and Caroline followed the nurse into an exam room, where Klaus sat in the corner and Caroline climbed onto the exam table while they waited for the doctor, who Klaus had compelled to perform every aspect of Caroline's appointments herself, since his thousand-year history of paranoia had decided that the best way to keep Caroline and the baby safe was to make sure as few people had information about Caroline's pregnancy and the child she carried as possible. Caroline thought that his attitude was a little extreme, since she didn't think that his enemies knowing what hospital she went to or when her due date was would make it any easier or more likely that they would show up at the hospital on her due date to hurt her or the baby, but she had to choose her battles, and she'd chosen not to fight this one._

 _After the doctor arrived and asked Caroline a few questions and took a few measurements, she readied the ultrasound machine, smiling at Klaus and Caroline as she said, "Let's take a look at Mommy and Daddy's little Valentine, shall we?"_

 _A moment later, the fuzzy, black and white figure of their child appeared on the screen._

 _She was lying on her side, facing them, with her legs crossed at the ankle and her arms wrapped around her stomach. The melodic thumping of her heartbeat filled the room._

 _"_ _Baby Mikaelson looks totally healthy," the doctor informed them. "Now, remind me, did you two want to know the sex, or would you like to be surprised?"_

 _"_ _Please, tell us," Caroline requested._

 _For months, they had been operating under the assumption that Esther had been telling the truth about the baby's gender, simply because Esther had nothing to gain by lying. Now, however, Caroline wanted to be certain, if only to give them enough time to purchase clothes for the baby that weren't the frilly pink dresses that Rebekah had purchased by the dozen._

 _"_ _Congratulations, you're having a baby girl," the doctor said. "She's measuring a little small compared to the average size for this week in the pregnancy, but that's nothing to be concerned with, it wouldn't be an average if about half of the samples weren't less than that."_

 _Klaus and Caroline were still staring at their baby on the monitor._

 _"_ _I'll just print out a copy of the sonogram for you, and you can be on your way," the doctor concluded._

 _She handed them a half-dozen photos before saying her farewells and leaving so that Caroline could redress and get herself ready to leave._

 _It was only a few minutes after exiting the doctor's office that Klaus and Caroline were seated in one of their favorite French restaurants in the city. Caroline had fallen in love with their_ _poulet rôti the first time they'd eaten there, and it was one of the foods she craved the most during her pregnancy so far._

 _While they waited for their food, Caroline once again pulled out her baby name book and her pad of paper to make lists of her favorite names, her left hand resting absently on her baby bump as she often did, wanting to have a physical connection with her daughter as often as possible._

 _"_ _What are you thinking?" Klaus asked, nodding towards the book._

 _"_ _I want her to have a special name, you know?" Caroline sighed. "Something that's worthy of a girl who even your evil mother talked about like she would be the most beautiful girl to ever live, and who might—if she inherits her father's ambition and determination, and her mother's organization and leadership skills—actually rule the world by the time she graduates from college. I want her to have a name with a special meaning, and a special history, and connections to her family, and that fits in with all of her sisters' names. I want her to have the name of a queen, or a goddess, or both, if that's possible!"_

 _"_ _Is that all?" Klaus deadpanned. "First of all, I have every confidence that you will find a name you think is perfect. Second of all, many of your requirements for a name overlap. If you give her the name of a character from mythology, she will have Marcel and Freya for company. If you give her the name of a queen, she will have that in common with you and Elizabeth. I would suggest you start with those two categories and see if there are any names you like in either one."_

 _"_ _I'm looking up your name first because I actually still don't know what it means," Caroline said._

 _Flipping pages quickly, Caroline soon found the one she was looking for._

 _"_ _Here it is. Niklaus is a variation of Nicholas which means 'victory of the people,' from the name of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, and the Greek word for people," Caroline read. "So I have a queen's name and you have a goddess's name. If we can find a name that's both, she'd have the best of both of us."_

 _"_ _Well, don't just choose something that so that you can check some boxes. I'd rather you choose something that doesn't fulfill your requirements but that you like, than you choosing something you don't like just because it happens to be on both of those lists."_

 _Caroline had already stopped listening, flipping back and forth between the page with the list of goddesses' names and the page with the list of queens' names. Now that she was carefully combing through each list looking for commonalities, she saw that there was only one name that was written twice._

 _And it was perfect._

 _"_ _Klaus, I've got it. I found the perfect name," Caroline exclaimed. "A queen's name and a goddess's name, and it does way more than just check some boxes."_

 _"_ _What is it?" Klaus asked._

 _"_ _Victoria," Caroline grinned._

 _Klaus nodded thoughtfully._

 _"_ _Let me explain all the ways it's perfect," Caroline started. "Queen Victoria was a queen of England who ruled for over the largest empire in history for over sixty years and was the longest reigning monarch until she was surpassed by a queen named—wait for it—Elizabeth, and is only one of two queens to have a period of British history named after her, the other one being a different queen named Elizabeth. If it wasn't enough for you to name our daughter after this impressive queen, Victoria is also the name of the Roman goddess of victory—the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, who your name comes from. And the name itself means 'victory,' obviously, which makes me think of Hope, and how you and Elijah and Hayley all thought of her as the only hope for your family while you were in the middle of fighting a war, but now you've won. You've made peace with Marcel, and you've defeated your mother… Maybe, just like Hope was a symbol of hope that one day the war would be over and your family would be reunited, this baby can be a symbol that you accomplished those things, and everything that you came to this city to do. That you were victorious, and maybe now you get to be happy."_

 _Caroline looked up to see Klaus looking at her proudly, a soft smile on his face._

 _"_ _It sounds like you've made up your mind," he made a half-hearted joke._

 _Then seriously: "I can't think of anything more fitting."_

 _"_ _And there's another thing that's more of a personal association," Caroline continued. "My friend Matt had an older sister, Vicki, who you never met, because she died before you came to Mystic Falls. We weren't exactly best friends, but she was sort of like I was back then: hovering on the edges of the group because she had connections to multiple people on the inside. She was Matt's sister, and Tyler's girlfriend, and she was hooking up with Jeremy," Caroline paused. "She caught Damon's attention not long after I did. But instead of abusing her the way he did to me, he turned her for his own entertainment. Just fed her his blood and killed her, without her consent, without her knowing what he was doing to her, just so that he would have a vampire playmate. She was never really able to get her vampire urges under control, so Stefan decided that he had to kill her in order to protect everyone in Mystic Falls, which as usual with Stefan, really just meant Elena, but he had everyone—including himself—convinced that he was playing the hero. And because Vicki had had problems with drugs, and her parents were never around, everyone assumed that she'd just run off until her body was found," Caroline took a deep breath. "By me. I was the one who found Vicki's body. And I guess I just want to acknowledge that not all of Damon's victims were as fortunate as I was, and to honor not just Vicki, but all of the good people that didn't survive Mystic Falls like I did, if that makes any sense?"_

 _Klaus was still looking at her with that proud smile. He reached around the table to place his hand on her stomach._

 _"_ _Victoria," he addressed their daughter. "You are very lucky to have an angel for a mother."_

 _Caroline turned her head, looking down bashfully, allowing her hair to cover her blush._

 _"_ _We still need to think of a middle name," Caroline pointed out. "And we need to shop!" she added, standing up abruptly._

 _"_ _Okay, we can go now," Klaus acquiesced, quickly pulling out his wallet to pay for their meal._

 _As they left the restaurant, Caroline explained hurriedly, "We have an advantage over Rebekah: we can get the baby all sorts of things personalized with her name, and Rebekah can't, because Rebekah doesn't know her name yet!"_

 _Klaus laughed._

 _"_ _And you accused me of trying to compete with my sister over who could by our daughter the most clothes and toys."_

 _Caroline raised her eyebrows, fixing him with a challenging stare._

 _"_ _What sort of things did you have in mind, sweetheart?" Klaus asked._

 _When they arrived at the mall, Caroline sped straight for her favorite baby clothes store like she was on a mission. She loved this store because in addition to clothes, they also sold sentimental keepsake items, and even some nursery décor; and because they would personalize anything purchased there for free._

 _Within a few minutes, Caroline had collected a heart-shaped, cotton candy pink sign to hang either on the door of the baby's room or above her crib (she hadn't decided yet), a round ottoman in a similar shade of pink that opened up to reveal a storage compartment inside, a coordinated set of onesies—one of which was white and had 'mommy's little angel' embroidered in light pink and decorated with a matching embroidered halo, and the other was the same shade of pink and had 'daddy's little princess' embroidered in white and decorated with a matching embroidered crown, light pink bedding trimmed with matching lace, six pink dresses, four pink hair bows, a dozen pairs of tiny pink baby socks, a book of Disney Princess stories, and a pink, heart-shaped jewelry box that came with a little rose-gold plaque that already had a small heart engraved on each end and could also be engraved with the recipient's name._

 _Caroline stuffed the clothes, the bedding, and the book inside the toy chest so that it would be easier to carry around inside the store, then brought the sign and the jewelry box over to the counter to be personalized. After waiting a few minutes, an employee returned them both to her, the sign now with the name Victoria written in script across the widest part of the heart in shiny, metallic, bright pink writing, and the jewelry box now proudly bearing a rose-gold plate with 'Victoria' engraved in ornate script writing between two hearts._

 _Upon seeing a little backpack embroidered with a monogram, Caroline was reminded of her other goal._

 _"_ _Okay, so middle names," she started. "First, we have to eliminate any initials that would spell a word. I can't think of any words that start with a V, end with an M, and only have one letter in between, but I still think we should not consider any names that start with an O, just because of the association."_

 _"_ _Is it really so tragic if her middle name starts with a vowel?" Klaus wondered._

 _"_ _Yes, Klaus," Caroline sighed. "Hope's initials spell HAM. Middle school bullies will literally oink like pigs at her when she walks by. I am trying to prevent middle school bullies from miming throwing up every time Victoria walks passed them."_

 _"_ _Do you have any other considerations?" Klaus asked, apparently accepting Caroline's concerns._

 _"_ _Well, Victoria and Elizabeth are so clearly a perfect set that it would be nice if her middle name had something in common with Josie's or Hope's names," Caroline suggested. "Obviously there isn't the same pressure to choose the perfect middle name as there is to choose the perfect first name, but it would be nice if we could choose something that we like a lot as well, and I'd like to pick something that we think works well with her first name."_

 _Caroline pulled out her baby name book again, finding a list of middle names that promised to go with virtually any first name._

 _"_ _Since I picked her first name, I suppose it's only fair to let you have the first choice for her middle name," Caroline said, holding out the book somewhat reluctantly._

 _"_ _How gracious of you, my love," Klaus answered with a smirk, but he readily turned his attention to the book._

 _"_ _How about Grace?" he proposed a moment later._

 _"_ _Grace?" Caroline repeated._

 _"_ _I seem to remember you having quite the admiration for the princess of Monaco," Klaus elaborated. "The first time you asked for my help, perhaps the first time you ever saw me as a friend, rather than the nemesis of your friends whose affection for you could be easily exploited, your goal was to look like this princess who was almost as beautiful as you."_

 _At the familiar words, Caroline looked down at the diamond bracelet on her wrist, which Klaus had given to her once to charm her, then again to protect her._

 _"_ _Victoria Grace Mikaelson," Caroline said aloud. "That's perfect."_

{ }

 _June 8, 2018 (two years, five months earlier)_

 _For the record, Caroline had insisted that a baby shower was unnecessary._

 _With the amount of clothes and supplies Caroline and the Mikaelsons had already purchased for baby Victoria, she really didn't see the point in devoting an entire day to buying her more stuff._

 _In fact, Caroline couldn't think of a single thing that she still needed. All of the furniture for the baby's room had arrived earlier in the week, and since all males had been forbidden from the baby shower, Klaus, his brothers, Marcel, and Josh were going to paint and set up the furniture for the nursery during that time._

 _As far as she knew, there were less than a dozen people coming, and only two of them (Hayley and Eva) didn't already live in the house, which Caroline had hoped would translate to a more casual, intimate event, but since Rebekah was in charge of planning, she knew that wouldn't happen._

 _Rebekah had asked to plan the baby shower weeks ago, and since Caroline hadn't given it any thought up until then, she agreed easily once Rebekah started whining about how she'd never gotten to plan or even attend a baby shower before and she was so looking forward to it._

 _Leaving Rebekah unsupervised was clearly a poor idea. The entire dining room was filled with pink, heart-shaped balloons; a shiny, metallic pink banner made up of eight hearts, each emblazoned with one letter of Victoria's name, hung from the ceiling; and the table was covered with cookies shaped like rattles and baby booties, covered in pink frosting with 'It's a Girl!' written in white icing._

 _"_ _Wow, I shouldn't be surprised that Rebekah went overboard," Caroline said sarcastically, yet hesitantly, in case Rebekah was listening._

 _"_ _She made us nametags," Freya chimed in, gesturing incredulously to the pieces of pink, heart-shaped plastic on the side table._

 _Caroline obediently picked up the one that said 'Mommy (Caroline)' and fastened it to the top of her pink dress. Rebekah had also enforced a strict wardrobe of only pink, as there was no other color appropriate for a baby shower for a little girl in her mind._

 _Looking at the table again, Caroline saw that, as Rebekah had intended, everyone except Hayley and Eva were already in the room. Some of them were even already rebelling against Rebekah's rules._

 _Katherine was wearing her 'Auntie Kat' nametag, upside down, just above the hem of the shortest dress Caroline had ever seen. The dress was pink, but Katherine was clearly determined to test Rebekah as much as possible._

 _In contrast, Lizzie was proudly wearing her 'Big Sister Lizzie' nametag on the belt of her pink dress and happily reaching for a rattle-shaped cookie._

 _"_ _Caroline!" Rebekah happily bounded over to her._

 _"_ _Wow, Rebekah, this is… astounding," Caroline said. "I really appreciate all of the effort you put into organizing this for me."_

 _"_ _I was happy to, it was so much fun!" Rebekah responded._

 _Rebekah took Caroline's hand and enthusiastically led her around the room, showing her all of the decorations, food, and activities she'd planned. It seemed that Rebekah had searched for popular baby shower games and chosen the top ten results._

 _"_ _No one is measuring my stomach, Rebekah," Caroline insisted, placing her hand over it as if that would keep Rebekah at bay._

 _Though she wasn't nearly as big as she had been when she was pregnant with the twins, she'd still reached the point in her pregnancy when she felt like the rest of her body had been swallowed up by her ballooning stomach, and even though Klaus had made it his mission to tell her and show her how beautiful he thought she was as much as he could, she still felt like a whale most of the time._

 _"_ _Why not?" Rebekah whined._

 _"_ _Because I already know that I resemble a blimp. I do not need to know the exact measurements of this living submarine," Caroline answered._

 _"_ _Oh please, you aren't even close to how big I was with Hope," Hayley interjected from behind them. She had played along with the dress code in a simple blush tee-shirt dress paired with her signature green military-style jacket._

 _"_ _Yeah, the doctor keeps telling me that Victoria is on the small side, but even though I was way bigger when I was pregnant with the twins, I'm just ready to not be pregnant anymore," Caroline replied._

 _"_ _I hear you. I felt like I was pregnant with Hope for way longer than nine months," Hayley commiserated. "And giving birth to an over-eight-pound baby was no fun, either, but once she was born…" Hayley trailed off, unable to describe the sublime moment._

 _"_ _I'm glad I don't have to go through that," Caroline said. "Vampire birth is a lot quicker and less painful than a human one. I have a C-section, and by the next day, my vampire healing has kicked in and I'm good as new."_

 _"_ _I'm sure humans would be so jealous if they knew," Rebekah laughed._

 _"_ _I'm just hoping that this time, delivery goes a lot smoother than it did with the twins," Caroline told them. "A vampire hunter was on the loose, and the babies kept trying to siphon the life out of me, while I was giving birth. This time around, things should be a lot calmer."_

 _"_ _Well, you know that Nik has made sure that you're in the best possible medical care he could find," Rebekah pointed out. "He will make sure that you give birth under the perfectly ideal circumstances, even if he has to evacuate the city to do it. Don't worry about a thing other than keeping yourself and my little niece as healthy and happy as you can."_

 _Rebekah soon excused herself to set up the first game._

 _Katherine and Bonnie wandered over to say hello just as Rebekah recruited Freya and Davina to help her prepare the supplies for the first activity._

 _"_ _I'm surprised to see that you even own a pink dress," Katherine commented to Hayley._

 _"_ _It's barely pink," Hayley scoffed. "And I didn't want to face the wrath of Rebekah, so I bought a dress and now I'll be prepared for every one of these things in the future."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?" Bonnie asked._

 _"_ _Yeah, this vampire pregnancy is a fluke caused by evil magical intervention, and it won't be happening again," Caroline added._

 _"_ _And how long after she sees your baby girl do you think it will take for Rebekah to get baby fever?" Hayley inquired. "What if Kol and Davina want kids in the future? Or you and Elijah?" she directed towards Katherine. "Now that we know that a powerful enough witch can make that happen, I wouldn't be surprised if the girls had more than one cousin running around in the next few years."_

 _"_ _Not me, my child-bearing years ended five centuries ago," Katherine insisted._

 _"_ _What about you?" Caroline asked Hayley. "Would you want to have kids with Jackson if you could?"_

 _"_ _I don't know," Hayley admitted, fiddling with her engagement and wedding rings on her left hand. The matching wedding bands that she and Jackson had chosen featured the same alternating pattern of emerald-cut diamonds and emeralds as Hayley's engagement ring, though the five stones were smaller of course, allowing the larger gems of her engagement ring to rest on top of them, covering only the top of the plain white gold band but not the gems themselves. "I would have to think about it if I were ever given the chance."_

 _Their conversation came to an abrupt end when Rebekah called for their attention and introduced the first game._

 _After several hours of playing games that no one had the heart to tell Rebekah weren't actually any fun, it was time for gifts._

 _Rebekah sat dutifully at Caroline's side, notepad and pen in hand, ready to record which person had sent which gift for when Caroline sent thank you notes later. On Caroline's other side were the girls—Lizzie, Josie, and Hope, all squeezed together in a row like little ducklings._

 _Caroline knew from the first box she opened that the Mikaelsons had gone just as overboard with their gifts for the baby shower as Rebekah had in planning the baby shower._

 _A large box from Freya contained a light pink baby pillow, a matching baby carrier and bouncy seat, and a baby book that was light pink with a heart-shaped window for a photo of the baby and closed with a darker pink ribbon tied in a bow._

 _"_ _Thank you so much for all of this, Freya!" Caroline exclaimed. "And I love that this stuff is by the same brand as the car seat and stroller we picked out, so all of them are the exact same shade of pink."_

 _"_ _You're very welcome," Freya replied. "Shopping for baby clothes and things is so much fun."_

 _From Bonnie, Caroline received a box full of basics that they could never have too many of—blankets, plain onesies, pacifiers, bibs—all in the same soft shade of pale pink._

 _Katherine and Elijah had offered a pretty pink mobile with pink hearts, white horses, and gold crowns to hang above the baby's crib, as well as a stack of at least two dozen popular children's books that her parents could read to her, and a small pink piggy bank that Elijah, as the Mikaelson family's resident accountant and financial advisor, had surely chosen._

 _Kol and Davina had clearly tried to think outside the box with their gifts, which included a pink heart-shaped keepsake box, a mini mobile that attached to the baby's car seat, and a journal with a light pink cover on which Davina had written, 'Baby's First Grimoire.'_

 _After thanking Kol and Davina for their gifts, Caroline turned to the next box. The ever practical Vincent and Eva had given her all of the supplies necessary to baby-proof the massive Mikaelson mansion, a task that seemed so strenuous and time-consuming that Caroline had refused to even think about it._

 _The gifts that Hayley and Jackson had chosen all revolved around a theme: light. In the box, Caroline found two pink heart-shaped nightlights—one for the baby's bedroom and one for her bathroom, a string of pink lights that could be hung up in Victoria's room, a stuffed owl that lit up when squeezed around the middle, and tiny pink light-up sneakers._

 _Rebekah's gift consisted of a dozen picture frames, about half of which were made of ornate gold filigree, and the other were traditional wood painted glossy pink. Half of the frames already contained pictures—one of Klaus and Caroline, one of Hope and the twins, one of the entire Mikaelson family taken at Thanksgiving—and the other half were empty and waiting to be filled with new memories. Then, to no one's surprise, she had also thrown in at least a dozen pink dresses that looked far too frilly and delicate for the baby to actually ever wear, since it was very, very unlikely that little Victoria would ever be invited a royal wedding or the Academy Awards, but the dresses were very pretty, even though they were impractical._

 _"_ _Thank you so much for the picture frames and the dresses, Rebekah," Caroline said._

 _"_ _There's more in there," Rebekah grinned._

 _Partly nervous, but partly excited, since she remembered Rebekah's incredibly thoughtful and generous birthday gift, Caroline reached into the bag again._

 _Wrapped very carefully in tissue paper at the bottom of the bag was a very pale pink baby blanket. At first, Caroline didn't see anything special about it. Then she turned it over._

 _In the corner, using a darker pink thread, two lines of text were embroidered in a simpler cursive font than the ornate script that had been used to personalize Victoria's blankets and other things: 'Caroline' and 'October 10, 1992.'_

 _"_ _Found that in your attic and thought you might want it, along with some other things," Rebekah explained._

 _Caroline carefully unrolled the blanket. Tucked inside were a little pink and white striped hat, which must have been the one that she had been given in the hospital when she was born; a onesie patterned with pink, grey, and white hearts, which must have been the outfit her parents brought her home from the hospital in; both hers and her mother's hospital bracelets; and a framed photograph of her mother holding an only-hours-old Caroline._

 _"_ _Wow," Caroline breathed out. "Thank you so much for this, Rebekah. It was really thoughtful of you to track all of this stuff down for me, and I really appreciate it."_

 _Once Caroline finished opening all of her gifts, the girls all traipsed upstairs to see the baby's finished nursery._

 _When the door swung open from the inside to invite them in, Caroline started crying at the sight of the haven that Klaus had created for their daughter._

 _The brick walls had been painted a soft and inviting shade of light pink. All of the furniture was glossy white with scalloped edges. The pretty crib that Caroline had fallen in love with in the store, with its bars made of towers of three-dimensional hearts, was positioned along the right wall, already made with the pink, lace-trimmed bedding that Caroline had picked out on Valentine's Day. The pink, heart-shaped sign she'd had personalized with Victoria's name hung on the wall in line with where the baby's head would rest, so that she could look up and see it. The dresser was pressed up against the opposite wall. Caroline pulled one of the heart-shaped drawer pulls, finding that the dresser had already been filled with neatly folded piles of Victoria's clothes. In one corner was the bookshelf and the pink ottoman/storage chest, where Victoria would be able to sit comfortably and read or play when she was older, and in another was a pink rocking chair. On the far wall was a changing table, already fully stocked with diapers, baby wipes, and all of the other supplies they would need. The last wall contained Victoria's closet, where dozens of the baby's fanciest dresses were already hanging. Throughout the room were paintings that Klaus had been working on for months in anticipation of hanging them in their daughter's room. One of them was of a small blonde girl wearing a pink dress with a matching ribbon in her hair, sitting in an ornate, bejeweled throne. Another was of the same girl, dancing gracefully. The last was the view of the New Orleans skyline from the window of the room in which they stood, at sunrise, the sky turning a warm, optimistic shade of pink to greet the new day._

 _"_ _This is perfect!" Caroline cried. "This is more perfect than anything I could have imagined!"_

 _Through her tears, Caroline hugged and profusely thanked everyone who had helped with the nursery. Klaus wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, while Elijah, Kol, Finn, Marcel, and Josh offered either indulgent smiles or looks of concern._

 _Caroline smiled. The nursery was complete, all of the shopping was finished, the girls were ready and excited to be big sisters, she and Klaus were ready to be parents and were surrounded by loved ones who were equally thrilled by their daughter's impending arrival._

 _Now all they needed was the baby._

{ }

Present

"And that's it, you're finished," Katherine announced.

Caroline looked up into the mirror, excited to see the final result that Katherine and Bonnie had been working on for almost an hour.

Katherine had gathered Caroline's long, curled hair into some sort of elegant twist at the nape of her neck, leaving the length of her hair to cascade freely down her back.

"Wow, I love it!" Caroline exclaimed. The style was romantic and elegant, without being fussy or uncomfortable, fitting in perfectly with her dress and the wedding itself.

"Good," Katherine replied. "Now it's our turn to get ready, so just sit still and do not cry, because we don't have time to fix your makeup."

Katherine and Bonnie grabbed their garment bags and went to change, leaving Caroline alone in front of the mirror.

Caroline put on the earrings that Victoria had delivered from Klaus as the final touch on her bridal attire, then, barring any last-minute touch-ups, she was completely ready.

For a few moments, Caroline just stared at her reflection. Everything was perfect; exactly as she had always dreamed she would look on her wedding day.

Her dress was perfect, her jewelry was perfect, her makeup was perfect, her hair was perfect. She was surrounded by loved ones, both in this room and down the hall. There were notable absences, of course, but Caroline could feel that her parents were there in spirit, and it was easier to come to terms with Elena's absence once Caroline acknowledged that, considering Elena's feelings towards Klaus, she might not have come to the wedding even if she could have.

Looking around the room, Caroline saw Rebekah doing her makeup, Freya helping with Davina's hair, and the girls sitting at the table in the corner playing a game. Caroline almost wished that she hadn't gotten ready so early, since now she had to wait for everyone else to be ready and for it to be time for the ceremony to start. There had been a lengthy debate as to the order of the preparations, at the end of which it had been determined that Caroline would get ready first, since as the bride, she was most important that day; then the girls, because they would need the most help and no one wanted the extra stress of rushing to get four girls under the age of ten ready in a rush; then the adult bridesmaids. Though Caroline had worried that the girls might get bored with nothing to do but wait for so long, or get their dresses wrinkled, she know conceded that it had been a wise decision. Rebekah, Freya, Davina, Katherine, and Bonnie had plenty of time to get themselves ready, and the atmosphere of the room was surprisingly calm considering how soon the ceremony would be starting.

Victoria toddled over to her mother, stepping carefully so as not to trip over the hem of her long dress.

Though Caroline thought that Victoria was prettier than her, with both of their faces together in the mirror, it was plain to see how much her daughter looked like her. There were obvious traces of Klaus, and even hints of Rebekah, but for the most part, Victoria was a smaller copy of Caroline, without the traits that she had hated about herself as a human teenager: Victoria's eyes were bigger, her lips were fuller, her hair curlier and more golden, and her eyebrows a little thicker. Victoria truly was a combination of the best of each of her parents.

"Pretty!" Victoria exclaimed, reaching towards Caroline's necklace.

"Thank you, I think it's pretty, too," Caroline replied.

"I like pink," Victoria added.

"I know you do," Caroline smiled indulgently.

"I want," Victoria pouted, a surefire way to get what she wanted from her father.

"You have some of your own, greedy girl," Caroline pointed to the necklace, bracelet, and earrings Victoria was wearing with her flower girl dress.

Victoria looked down, her face lighting up when she touched the bracelet on one of her wrists. She looked back up at Caroline, a happy smile on her face. But when she saw Caroline's necklace again, she went back to pouting.

"I want," Victoria repeated, pointing at Caroline's necklace.

"Maybe when you're a little bigger we can get you a matching one, or something similar," Caroline suggested.

Victoria gave her a look that she'd seen on all of the Mikaelsons' faces—one that meant that they were sizing up an opponent in order to determine the best strategy with which to defeat them—in this case, how to convince her mother to give her her jewelry and let her keep her own when she knew that her entire flower girl outfit was going in a pretty pink rose-patterned keepsake box that she'd helped pick out. It used to disturb Caroline to see that calculating look on her baby girl's tiny face, now it just made her laugh.

"That's the best offer you're going to get," Caroline told her.

"Fine," Victoria grumbled.

"Rebekah, if you come across any pink pearls in your jewelry hunt, Victoria has taken quite a liking to the ones we're wearing," Caroline called out.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Rebekah had been (with Caroline's help) going through all of her old clothes and jewelry that were stored in the attic, looking for Caroline's something old and something borrowed, and while she was at it, decided to set aside some things that she wanted to give to the girls when they were older.

Long after Caroline had decided to track down something of her mother's for her something old and chosen a pair of cream lace pumps that Rebekah had purchased the previous year before deciding she didn't like them after all as soon as she got home for her something borrowed, Rebekah was still sorting jewelry she no longer liked or wanted to keep into four piles, one for each girl, based on which one of them she thought would most like each piece. Rebekah's jewelry collection was so extensive that even though she was only giving away a small fraction of what she owned, each girl's pile still contained several pieces and was probably worth at least a million dollars.

"I haven't seen any so far, but if I find any she can have them, and if I don't, I'll just buy her some," Rebekah replied.

Caroline laughed.

"You know how much more free time I would have if I didn't have to spend every waking minute trying to prevent you all from spoiling my children?" she asked rhetorically.

Even after three years of living with them, Caroline still felt a little uncomfortable with the amount of money that the Mikaelsons freely spent on her and her daughters. Birthdays and Christmases were extravagant affairs, nothing like the holidays of her own childhood, and the girls often received generous gifts from members of the family for no particular occasion. Trying to raise children who appreciated the value of a dollar and were willing to work hard and save up for things that they really wanted was a challenge when their upbringing was far more privileged than her own. Of course Caroline wanted her daughters to have everything they needed, and even many of the things they wanted, but she didn't want them to expect or demand everything they wanted, or prioritize material possessions over relationships and experiences.

"I don't know, but after today, you'll officially be a Mikaelson, and what is ours is yours," Rebekah grinned.

Caroline had decided to change her name after the wedding. She'd always thought that she would want to hyphenate her name, so as to keep her maiden name and take her husband's last name, but now she actually found the reality of having to deal with two last names unappealing. 'Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson' would never fit on a signature line, not that she would ever have the patience to write out every one of all of those letters as she felt the annoyed glares of rushed, impatient fellow customers in line behind her.

In her heart, she'd already been a Mikaelson for years: since Klaus had told her he loved her, fulfilling his promise to be her last love. Her status as a member of the family was cemented further when she got pregnant with Victoria.

Victoria was the biggest reason why she had decided to change her name once she and Klaus were married, even more than Klaus himself, who she knew was thrilled that she'd decided to take his name. She wanted to have the same last name as her daughter and her daughter's father, and—since after the wedding Klaus was going to adopt the twins, making them officially Mikaelsons as well—all three of her daughter's sisters. It was just as important to her as it had been to her mother, who'd continued using her married name, even after her husband had left her for a man and left town to start a new life with him, not because of any lingering love or loyalty she felt for Bill, but because of Caroline.

So Caroline knew that her mother would be the first to tell her that she was making the right decision. A name or even blood didn't make a family, what made a family was the desire to be a part of it and love for the people in it. Her name represented her identity, identifying her as a member of the family she wanted to be a part of, and as much as a large part of her identity would always be that she was Liz and Bill Forbes' daughter, she didn't need to have the same last name as her deceased parents to remind herself that the three of them would always be a family, especially now that the other most significant parts of her identity—Victoria, Lizzie, and Josie's mother, Klaus's wife, Hope's stepmother, Rebekah and Freya's sister (as they would surely refuse to insult their relationship by relegating it 'sisters-in-law' status)—made her a central, irreplaceable part of the Mikaelson family.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to go on a shopping spree the second the marriage license is signed," Caroline countered.

Bored with the conversation, Victoria wandered back over to where her sisters were playing a game of Candyland at the table, sitting primly in their chairs so as to prevent their dresses from getting wrinkled.

"You can't just walk off in the middle of the game, Victoria," Josie chastised.

"I'm sorry," Victoria apologized.

"It's your turn," Lizzie told her.

Victoria drew a card and moved her red mover to the correct space. Though this game wasn't the most challenging for eight-year-old Hope, it was one of their only games that two-year-old Victoria, who couldn't count very well on her own yet, could play with them, so they played it fairly often, especially when Klaus and Caroline need to keep all four girls occupied. The game was also based on luck rather than skill, so Victoria wasn't at a disadvantage because of her age.

Caroline watched as Lizzie took her turn next. Just as Victoria was always the red mover because it was closest to pink, Lizzie was always yellow, Josie was always blue, and Hope was always green.

"Okay, we're back," Katherine announced, with Bonnie following close behind.

Caroline almost cried at the sight of all of her bridesmaids in their dresses. They were made of the same pink lace as the girls' dresses, but without the ribbon sashes and with a sweetheart neckline like Caroline's dress, but with thin silk straps that their hair would cover instead of the sheer lace overlay. They were wearing the same style jewelry as the girls, though the pearls they wore were somewhat larger. Their shoes were the same color and material, but they wore heels rather than flats.

"No!" Katherine pointed at Caroline. "What have I told you about the crying?"

"It's my wedding and I'll cry if I want to," Caroline retorted.

Katherine shook her head.

"You make me crazy, you know that? You're the only person who could make me dress up as Ballerina Princess Barbie," she lifted the skirt of her pink lace dress. "But you drive me insane."

Katherine hadn't been thrilled when Caroline had chosen light pink, gold, and cream as her wedding colors, and even less so when she'd picked out girly, relatively conservative pink lace bridesmaids' dresses, but to her credit, she'd carried out all of her bridesmaid duties with a positive attitude and only minimal good-natured complaints.

"There's no such thing as Ballerina Princess Barbie," Caroline insisted. "I've looked, for the holiday that's next month, for the littlest one."

"Caroline, your littlest one is a living Ballerina Princess Barbie," Katherine chuckled.

Caroline had to admit that Katherine had something of a point. Though more formal and expensive, the dress Victoria was wearing for the wedding wasn't much different in color or style than what she usually wore, and was probably the little girl's dream dress.

Victoria had chosen that moment to start listening in on their conversation.

"I'm a Barbie?!" she squealed.

"You're just as pretty as a little doll," Rebekah cut in, trying to tame her niece's excitement.

"Auntie Kat said I'm Ballerina Princess Barbie!" Victoria insisted, stumbling a little over the pronunciation of the word 'ballerina.'

"You can be anything you want to be," Rebekah replied diplomatically. "Though it would be fantastic if you decided you wanted to be a person rather than an inanimate object," she added under her breath.

"I regret saying anything," Katherine said.

"So moving on: how close are we to being ready, because the ceremony is scheduled to start in exactly one hour," Bonnie changed the subject.

"I'm getting married in an hour!" Caroline cheered.

"Well, probably not exactly an hour, since no wedding in the history of weddings has every started on time, but knowing you, you might be the first," Katherine replied.

"Davina and I are ready," Freya called out. "And sorry for not participating more in the conversation, we've been using our teeth to open bobby pins for the last half an hour."

"Same here," Bonnie chimed in.

The bridesmaids were wearing their hair in an elegant twisted style similar to Caroline's, only with the top half of their hair rather than all of it, and very close to the girls', just with hidden pins and clear hair elastics instead of pink ribbons.

"You both look gorgeous!" Caroline complimented.

"Thanks, Care." "Thank you, sister." They replied in unison.

"Okay, so it looks like Rebekah needs to get her hair done, Katherine needs to get her hair and makeup done, and Bonnie needs to get her hair and makeup done, too," Caroline reported.

"Remind me, why didn't we hire a hair stylist and makeup artist?" Katherine asked.

"We wanted this to be a family bonding experience," Caroline answered. "Plus, you and Rebekah have lifetimes more experience doing your own hair and makeup than anyone we could have hired."

Davina stepped forward and quickly began twisting Katherine's long curly hair into place, while Freya brandished a curling iron above her sister's head. Bonnie started doing her makeup while she waited for her turn to get her hair done.

"How are we doing, girls?" Caroline asked, turning her attention to where they were still playing their game.

She was met with enthusiastic, positive responses from all four of them.

{ }

 _July 3, 2018 (two years, four months earlier)_

 _4:43 a.m._

 _In what might have been the most normal, human moment of her extremely unusual, vampire pregnancy, Caroline was awakened in the early hours of the morning by her water breaking._

 _Caroline immediately turned over and poked Klaus to wake him up._

 _"_ _Klaus, wake up, my water just broke," she told him._

 _Klaus was out of bed and standing next to her in less than a second._

 _"_ _How are you feeling, are you all right?" he asked worriedly._

 _"_ _I'm fine," Caroline assured him. Klaus still looked skeptical. "Seriously, I'm fine. Being a vampire means that my body can't undergo all of the painful changes that normal human's would have to in order to accommodate childbirth. I will not be in labor for hours, I am not having contractions; in fact, I am not in any pain whatsoever. So let's wake someone up to watch the girls, and then go to the hospital, because we are going to have a baby in the next few hours."_

 _Klaus nodded, still looking a little shell-shocked. He looked uncertain of what to do for a moment until Caroline got out of bed and pulled some clothes out of a dresser drawer. Within a few minutes, they were both dressed and ready, Klaus in his usual henley and jeans, and Caroline in leggings and a loose-fitting dress._

 _"_ _So, who are we waking up?" Caroline asked. "I have a feeling that Rebekah might kill me if I let her sleep through the birth of her niece, but I also don't want to leave any one person with the responsibility of watching all three girls on their own, plus possibly taking all three girls to the hospital to meet their new baby sister all on their own."_

 _"_ _Wake up Rebekah, I'll wake up Elijah, and after we've left they can do whatever they want. They can wake up everyone in the house for all I care," Klaus decided._

 _Caroline turned around and walked down the hall to Rebekah's room, while Klaus headed in the opposite direction towards Elijah's._

 _"_ _Rebekah," Caroline called out quietly. She stepped forward and tapped the other girl on the shoulder, calling her name again._

 _"_ _What do you want?" Rebekah whined groggily._

 _"_ _I just thought you might want to know that my water broke and Klaus and I are going to go to the hospital now," Caroline said._

 _Rebekah shot up in bed._

 _"_ _The baby's coming?" she asked._

 _"_ _The baby is coming, this morning," Caroline confirmed._

 _"_ _What do you need me to do?" Rebekah asked._

 _"_ _Just be here, so that when the girls wake up, someone is here and awake who can explain to them what's going on. Klaus went to wake up Elijah, so if the two of you could bring the girls to the hospital after the baby is born, that would be great."_

 _Rebekah nodded eagerly._

 _She stood up and followed Caroline out into the hall, not bothering to change out of her garnet silk nightgown, though she did put on a white robe over it._

 _Klaus stood in the hallway with Elijah, who was already dressed in a suit, his tie perfectly knotted, and Katherine, who was wearing a short black silk nightgown trimmed with black lace and a sheer black robe._

 _"_ _None of you should be allowed to look cute while I'm 87 months pregnant and as big as a whale," Caroline complained._

 _"_ _Sorry for not wearing ugly sweatpants and a parka to make you feel better about yourself," Katherine shot back._

 _Rebekah tried a gentler approach._

 _"_ _These are the last few hours of your last pregnancy. Don't you want to cherish these moments before they're over?"_

 _"_ _She's clearly never been pregnant," Katherine said._

 _"_ _Are you ready to go, my love?" Klaus asked Caroline, ignoring the squabbling between the three women._

 _"_ _I just need to get my bag."_

 _Three weeks earlier, Caroline had packed the bag she would be taking with her to the hospital with a few changes of clothes for herself and the baby and everything else she thought she might need._

 _"_ _I have it," Klaus gestured to the overstuffed bag on his shoulder._

 _"_ _Do you have your phone?" Caroline asked._

 _Klaus pointed to the front pocket of his jeans._

 _"_ _Then I think we're all set," Caroline said. "We'll see you guys soon."_

 _Rebekah, Elijah, and Katherine all waved, wished them luck, and said goodbye as Klaus and Caroline left the house._

{ }

 _5:18 a.m._

 _The maternity ward was crowded and bustling with activity, even at five in the morning._

 _Loitering loved ones hurried to get out of Caroline's way when they saw her large belly, so she made it to the front desk before Klaus finished fighting his way through the crowd after her._

 _Caroline gave her name to the receptionist, who smiled and told her to sit down and make herself comfortable while she paged her doctor._

 _Once she sat down, Klaus hurried to her side._

 _"_ _They're paging my doctor," Caroline explained. "She should be here soon, and then it's time to have a baby."_

 _Klaus just nodded._

 _"_ _Are you okay? You've been kind of quiet," Caroline asked._

 _"_ _I'm merely anticipating the birth of our child, that's all," Klaus responded._

 _"_ _Are you nervous?" Caroline asked with a conspiratorial smile._

 _"_ _I wouldn't say that," Klaus denied. "It would be irresponsible for me to not be aware of or concerned about the possibility of something going wrong, but I know that you will be cared for by trained professionals, and I don't anticipate anything going wrong."_

 _"_ _That just sounded like a stuffy, wordy, Klaus way of saying that you're nervous," Caroline said._

 _Caroline, surprisingly enough, found that she wasn't particularly nervous about giving birth. She had done this before, under far more stressful and dangerous circumstances, and with two babies who were clinging to her as a source of magic rather than just one who wasn't. The last time she'd given birth, she didn't even remember her water breaking, or arriving at the hospital, because she'd been desiccated from the twins siphoning the magic out of her. The fact that she was awake and coherent at this stage in the process was a vast improvement in her view._

 _"_ _Well, Caroline, you might remember what happened to Hope's mother shortly after her birth," Klaus pointed out._

 _Caroline had honestly not thought about what had happened to Hayley at all. Their situations were so different, and she didn't want to allow herself to consider the possibility of dying and panic._

 _"_ _Well, as you said yourself, I will be cared for by trained professionals," Caroline replied. "I am giving birth in a reputable hospital, with well-educated doctors and nurses, not in a church, attended by witches who want to kill my baby and are willing to slit my throat to get me out of the way so they can do that. Our situations are totally different."_

 _"_ _I wish I could be as optimistic as you are," Klaus said._

 _"_ _I'm going to be fine," Caroline reassured him. "Victoria is going to be born in probably less than two hours now, maybe three at the latest, and she is going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine."_

 _Klaus was saved the trouble of coming up with a response by a nurse approaching and calling Caroline's name._

 _"_ _Well, it looks like someone's an early riser!" the nurse said cheerfully. "And how are Mom and Dad doing?"_

 _"_ _Very excited," Caroline answered honestly, though she had to be careful not to act too enthusiastic or people might get suspicious of the fact that she was supposedly in labor, yet seemed to not be in any pain._

 _"_ _Excellent! Let's get you to your room and then we can check to see how things are progressing while we wait for your doctor to arrive," the nurse continued._

 _Klaus and Caroline stood and followed the young woman through a set of double doors and down a sterile-looking white hallway. She kept up a brisk pace as she led them passed closed doors and open ones, empty rooms and occupied ones._

 _She stopped in front of an empty room that seemed to have been chosen at random._

 _"_ _Here we are!" the nurse exclaimed. Caroline wondered how she could possibly be so cheerful at five in the morning, then realized that the nurse probably hadn't just woken up like she had. "I'll give you a few minutes to get changed and settled, and I'll be right back to check your progress!"_

 _The nurse handed Caroline a hospital gown and turned to leave, but before she could get very far, Klaus compelled her to not check on Caroline but to think she had, to not say anything about he or Caroline to anyone except Caroline's doctor, and to forget everything about them unless she was physically in their presence, until after they left the hospital, when she would forget about them completely._

 _The nurse blinked, a little dazed, then left the room._

 _Caroline quickly changed into the hospital gown and sat up on the bed._

 _"_ _And now we wait," she said._

{ }

 _5:41 a.m._

 _"_ _Hello!" the doctor greeted as she poked her head in the door._

 _"_ _I'm sorry to keep you waiting," she continued as she stepped inside the room. "I was just finishing up an emergency C-section when you arrived. Fortunately, mother and baby are going to be just fine. Anyway, how are we doing? Are we ready to have a baby this morning?"_

 _"_ _Very ready," Caroline replied with a smile._

 _Klaus stepped forward and compelled the doctor to believe that Caroline had a preexisting condition that would make it impossible for her to deliver the baby naturally (which was technically true) and that she would need a C-section immediately. Then, like with the nurse, he compelled her to not question them, find anything unusual about them, and to forget that they had ever existed the moment that Caroline was discharged from the hospital._

 _"_ _Right, you have a preexisting condition that would make it impossible for you to deliver the baby naturally," the doctor repeated to Caroline. "I'll go prepare for the surgery."_

 _The doctor left the room in the same dazed manner that the nurse had._

 _"_ _Do you want to maybe call home and check in?" Caroline asked Klaus._

 _Klaus pulled out his phone and dialed. Caroline could hear Elijah answer through the tiny speaker of Klaus's phone._

 _"_ _Caroline wanted me to call and update you," Klaus told his brother. "The doctor just arrived and is preparing for surgery now."_

 _"_ _Thank you for the update. I'm sure everything will fine, this is a routine procedure that the doctor has surely done hundreds of times," Elijah responded._

 _"_ _Ask him if the girls are awake," Caroline instructed._

 _"_ _Caroline would like to know if the children have woken up yet," Klaus repeated._

 _"_ _They have not," Elijah replied. "I can wake them if you'd like? Rebekah has already woken up Bonnie, Freya, Finn, Kol, and Davina. We were wondering if you would like us to call Marcel, Vincent, and Josh."_

 _"_ _Call Marcel," Klaus ordered. "If he chooses to inform Vincent and Josh, that is his choice, but you are not a switchboard operator. And let the girls sleep. I'll call again after the baby is born, at which time we would appreciate it if you would bring them here."_

 _"_ _We would be happy to," Elijah answered. "I will speak with you again soon then."_

 _Only a few minutes after Klaus ended the call, the doctor and nurse returned to the room, along with an unfamiliar man who Caroline assumed was the anesthesiologist._

 _The doctor handed Caroline some papers to sign, which she assured her were just standard consent forms for surgery, while the nurse attached a heart monitor and an IV in Caroline's arm._

 _"_ _Do you have any last minute questions before we get started?" the doctor asked._

 _"_ _Caroline and the baby won't be in any pain, will they?" Klaus made the question sound like a threat._

 _"_ _That's what the anesthesiologist is here for," the doctor answered with an indulgent smile, presumably used to nervous fathers in the delivery room. "Caroline is going to be numb from about the rib cage all the way down, so she won't feel anything, and we've never had a baby complain about the procedure," she tried to lighten the mood with a joke._

 _It didn't work. Klaus just glared at her._

 _"_ _Mr. Mikaelson, I assure you, your wife and daughter are perfectly safe," the doctor promised. "I have been monitoring the pregnancy for nine months now, and I have no reason to believe that we will run into any complications, but if we do, I have the training and experience to ensure that both of them remain safe and healthy for the entire duration of the surgery and their recovery."_

 _"_ _Klaus, the sooner you stop threatening the doctor, the sooner I can actually give birth," Caroline chided. "I appreciate you concern for me and our baby, but there are no other options. My water broke, so I have to give birth now, whether we like it or not, and because of my 'condition,' this is the only way that I can give birth, whether we like it or not."_

 _Klaus sighed and nodded his ascent._

 _The anesthesiologist introduced himself to Caroline, then explained what he was going to do, though having heard Klaus's concerns about Caroline being in pain, he wisely hid the large needle he had to use from Klaus's view until he was completely finished._

 _At that point, Klaus administered the usual compulsion: to not talk about them to anyone outside of the people present, to not question anything about them or find anything unusual about them, and to forget that they had ever existed the moment that Caroline was discharged from the hospital._

 _"_ _We'll give you two a few minutes to yourselves while we wait for the anesthesia to kick in," the doctor said. "And if there's anyone you need to call, or anyone else you want with you in the delivery room, now would be the time."_

 _"_ _Do you want to call Elijah again?" Caroline asked once they left._

 _"_ _I don't think it's necessary, but if you'd like me to I can," Klaus offered._

 _"_ _You just seem anxious about this, I thought he might be able to calm you down," Caroline said._

 _"_ _Am I supposed to be excited by the premise of you being cut open and our daughter being ripped out of your body?" Klaus challenged._

 _Caroline grimaced._

 _"_ _I wouldn't have put it that way, but no, I didn't expect you to be excited, I expected you to see this as what it is: a means to an end. I love that you're so protective of us and that you don't want to see us in pain, but you have to remember that I'm not actually in any pain right now, the anesthesia will keep me from being in pain when they 'cut me open' as you so delicately put it, and I'll start healing as soon as it's over and be good as new by tomorrow; and that when it's over, we'll have our beautiful baby girl to love, and hold, and take home with us. That's what's important," Caroline insisted._

 _"_ _That was much better advice than any Elijah could have given me," Klaus replied._

 _"_ _Good," Caroline responded. "Then I think we're ready."_

{ }

 _6:14 a.m._

 _While they waited, Caroline talked to the baby. She talked to Victoria several times a day, but she often did so when no one else was around, since she always felt self-conscious talking out loud but not to any of the other people in the room._

 _Caroline was telling the baby how excited she was to meet her and how soon she thought that would be when the obstetrician, nurse, and anesthesiologist returned._

 _"_ _How are you feeling?" the doctor asked._

 _"_ _Calmer than I thought I would," Caroline answered. "Though it is a little strange to talk to the baby, and know that she's there, even though I can't feel her anymore."_

 _"_ _Then it's time to go to the operating room," the doctor said. "If you're going to be in the room, you'll need to put these on," she handed a set of scrubs to Klaus, who obediently pulled them on over his clothing._

 _Within a few minutes, Caroline was settled in bed in the operating room, Klaus had compelled everyone in the room who he hadn't already, and the doctor and nurses were washing their hands and doing all of the last minute preparations they needed._

 _One of the nurses pulled a blue cloth across the top of Caroline's rib cage, ensuring that she couldn't see what was happening, while another secured an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. Caroline looked up at Klaus, standing next to her, who squeezed her hand gently in response._

 _"_ _All right, Caroline, we're ready to get started," the doctor declared. "Depending on how long it takes me to move your baby into position, the procedure could take up to half an hour, but if either you or the baby starts to show any signs of distress, I can have the baby out in two minutes if that's what needs to happen to keep you both healthy. Okay?"_

 _Caroline took a deep breath._

 _Through the curtain, she could see the silhouette of the doctor's hand holding a scalpel as it approached her stomach, but she looked away before it met her skin. Even though she couldn't feel the sharp metal cut through her skin, she still didn't want to see it happen either. She kept her eyes on Klaus, who kept hold of her hand and whispered quiet words of support and encouragement._

 _After several minutes of careful maneuvering, a sharp, high-pitched cry pierced the air._

 _It was the most beautiful sound that Caroline had ever heard._

 _"_ _You have a healthy baby girl, congratulations," the doctor announced._

 _The doctor lifted the baby up so that Klaus and Caroline could see her, then handed her over to a nurse to get cleaned up._

 _"_ _Time of birth: 6:46 a.m." Caroline heard one nurse say._

 _"_ _Baby weighs 6 pounds, 4 ounces and measures 18 inches long," another reported._

 _"_ _Does she have a name?" a third nurse, who was filling in the information the others were calling out on a chart, asked Klaus._

 _"_ _Victoria," Klaus answered, looking over the nurse's head to where another nurse was swaddling Victoria in a pink blanket. "Victoria Grace Mikaelson."_

 _"_ _That's a beautiful name," the nurse offered with a smile. "She sounds like a little queen in the making already."_

 _"_ _When can Caroline see her?" Klaus asked._

 _"_ _She's going to spend a few minutes under the warmer, just to make sure her body temperature is up where it needs to be. That's standard procedure for all babies born via C-section, I'm sure your daughter is perfectly fine," the nurse added quickly, seeing Klaus's expression. "The doctor will finish closing up the incision, we'll remove the oxygen mask, then we'll bring your daughter over to your wife to hold."_

 _For a few minutes, the only sounds in the room were Victoria's soft cries and the faint hum of machinery._

 _Then the doctor announced, "The incision's closed."_

 _As promised, a nurse pulled the oxygen mask off of Caroline's face, and another picked up Victoria and carried her across the room, gently depositing her in Caroline's waiting arms._

 _As soon as Caroline laid eyes on Victoria, she felt her heart swell and her eyes fill with tears. She couldn't believe that she'd helped make this perfect little person, or that she was somehow able to love her even more than she had before she was born._

 _Caroline was stunned at how beautiful Victoria was. She had a few thin strands of golden blonde hair that peeked out from under her pink knit hat; large round eyes that curiously scanned the room, never focusing on any one thing for very long; a tiny, delicate nose; a cherubic round face; and thin blonde eyebrows that curved in a rounded shape._

 _Caroline could easily identify traits that Victoria had inherited from her, ones that came from Klaus, and ones that she had in common with other members of the Forbes or Mikaelson families._

 _She was so overwhelmed, her heart so full of love and gratitude that it threatened to burst, that she and the love of her life had created this beautiful, perfect little girl, and that she got to be this beautiful, perfect little girl's mother._

 _"_ _Hi, baby girl," Caroline breathed out. "Hi, Princess Victoria. I'm your mommy and I love you more than you'll ever know."_

 _Victoria seemed to recognize her mother's voice, because she turned her little head towards Caroline, her unfocused blue-grey eyes blinking up towards her mother's face._

 _If Esther was to be believed, Victoria's eyes would change to a silvery-grey in the coming weeks. And since Caroline could see that Esther had been correct when she'd told her that Victoria would have golden blonde hair, a round face, Klaus's mouth and dimples, and Caroline's nose and eyebrows, she saw no reason not to believe that Esther's claims about Victoria's eye color would be false._

 _"_ _Aren't you perfect?" Caroline cooed to the baby. "Do you want to look at Daddy, too? Do you want to let Daddy see how pretty you are?"_

 _Caroline adjusted her arms so that Klaus was in Victoria's line of vision._

 _Klaus smiled at their daughter._

 _"_ _Hello there, my littlest love," he said, repeating the term of endearment he'd used to address the baby throughout Caroline's pregnancy._

 _Victoria blinked a few times in a row, then made a quiet hiccupping noise. Caroline wasn't sure what that meant until she felt Victoria's arms move inside the blanket she was swaddled in._

 _"_ _I think someone wants her daddy," Caroline laughed. "Do you want to hold her, Klaus?"_

 _Klaus swallowed and shook his head._

 _"_ _No, I can't," he said._

 _"_ _Why can't you hold your own daughter?" Caroline questioned._

 _Klaus looked at Victoria again, who had turned her attention back to Caroline._

 _"_ _She's too perfect," Klaus finally replied. "I would taint her, ruin her, and I couldn't live with myself if I did."_

 _Caroline sighed._

 _"_ _Klaus, she's a Mikaelson. She's already half you. Half of her DNA, the building blocks that make up who she is, came from you. You won't ruin her; you love her, and she loves you, and she needs you. You can't be just the perfect expectant father for nine months and then decide that your daughter's too good to have anything to do with you and walk away as soon as she's born. I won't allow it."_

 _Klaus looked Caroline in the eyes, saw the fierce protectiveness reflected there._

 _"_ _Okay," he relented, holding his arms out, though Caroline could tell that she hadn't completely convinced him and made a mental note to revisit this conversation when they got home._

 _Caroline transferred Victoria to Klaus's arms, crying some more as she saw the two of them together._

 _Klaus smiled down at Victoria, swaying slightly back and forth to rock her gently._

 _"_ _We're going to take Caroline to recovery now, and the baby to the nursery," one of the nurses informed them._

 _Klaus clutched Victoria to him more tightly. Caroline smiled inwardly. Just moments ago, Klaus had been afraid to hold their baby, now he was visibly upset at the idea of a nurse trying to take her away from him._

 _"_ _It's standard operating procedure for the hospital, sir," the nurse continued. "We need to check her into the nursery, where she'll be monitored by nurses who are specially trained to care for newborns. Her parents can visit her and take her to her mother's room at any time, here," the nurse fastened a hospital bracelet matching the ones that Caroline and Victoria were wearing to Klaus's wrist. "You'll need to show this to the nurse on duty so that she can release your daughter into your care when you want to take her from the nursery."_

 _Klaus reluctantly allowed the nurse to take Victoria from him and put her in a wheeled bassinet with clear glass sides. On the front was a chart printed on pale pink paper, with 'It's a Girl!" written in brighter pink, and all of Victoria's pertinent information—her name, her parent's names, her time and date of birth, her weight, her length, her blood type—in the corresponding boxes._

 _Caroline cried as the nurse wheeled her baby away, while the other two pushed her in the opposite direction. Fortunately, the recovery room wasn't far away from the nursery where Victoria was, or the operating room they had been in._

 _"_ _Klaus, you should probably call Elijah now and ask him to bring the girls," Caroline suggested._

 _The nurse left to give them some privacy while they spoke to their family._

 _"_ _Brother, I hope you're calling to inform me of my niece's birth," Elijah answered the phone._

 _"_ _I am indeed," Klaus responded. "Victoria Grace was born at 6:46 this morning. Since then, she's been cleaned, weighed, measured, examined by nurses, given a hat and a blanket, and confiscated from us and taken to the nursery."_

 _"_ _I'm surprised you let your daughter out of your sight, Niklaus," Elijah commented._

 _"_ _My next order of business is to compel all of the nurses to allow Victoria to stay in Caroline's room at all times. I just wanted them to make sure she's in perfect health, and I need to make sure everyone who's seen her or heard about her gets compelled to forget everything about any of us whenever they're not in the room with us and as soon as we leave this hospital."_

 _"_ _Well, you are nothing if not efficient when it comes to compulsion," Elijah remarked. "I will wake up the other children, and we will be there soon."_

{ }

 _8:02 a.m._

 _One of the compelled nurses was just finishing up another check-up on Caroline's heart monitor when they arrived._

 _Klaus had sent Elijah a text message containing Caroline's room number, wanting him to be able to take the girls straight to their room, and as they approached, Klaus and Caroline could hear a stampede of footsteps coming down the hallway._

 _The nurse pulled open the door to leave just as Hope, Lizzie and Josie standing dutifully at her side, pushed it open from the other side._

 _"_ _Good morning, Mikaelson sisters! Are you ready to meet the newest member of your little club?" the nurse smiled brightly._

 _All three girls nodded enthusiastically._

 _"_ _What's a Mikaelson?" Lizzie whispered._

 _"_ _That's what we are," Hope answered authoritatively, a silent eye-roll echoing at the end of her statement._

 _While the nurse led them over to Victoria's bassinet, the rest of the family filed into the hospital room._

 _"_ _Oh my goodness, Rebekah," Caroline sighed._

 _Many of them were holding large bouquets of light pink roses. Those that weren't were holding bunches of light pink balloons, all of which had a silver Mylar one in the middle with "It's a Girl!" written in pink. Rebekah, Freya, Bonnie, and Katherine were holding both flowers and balloons. The girls were all wearing pink tee-shirts that said 'I'm a Big Sister!' in glittery pink script._

 _"_ _How did you know it was me?" Rebekah asked._

 _"_ _Because I know you," Caroline answered._

 _Rebekah made an indignant noise, then demanded, "Where is my niece?"_

 _She stalked over to the bassinet, where the girls were all gathered, listening to the nurse tell them how many hours old Victoria was, and how big she was._

 _"_ _Leave us alone," Rebekah quickly compelled the nurse._

 _Then she reached into the bassinet and gently picked up Victoria, who was now dressed in a pink onesie made of the softest material Caroline had ever touched, with her name and a small heart embroidered on the right side of her chest._

 _"_ _Hi, angel baby," Rebekah cooed, letting Victoria's pink blanket fall open so that the baby could grab onto her offered index finger. "I'm your Auntie Bex, and we're going to be best friends, you and I. Whenever Daddy says that you can't do something fun, or that you have enough dresses and you don't need anymore, that's what Auntie Bex is here for."_

 _"_ _That's enough, Rebekah," Klaus called out._

 _"_ _Aren't you just the prettiest baby in the whole wide world? Aren't you?" Rebekah continued to talk to Victoria, completely ignoring Klaus. "See, I can see where you look like your mommy, and I can see where you look like your daddy, and I can even see where you look a little like me. You're going to be the most beautiful girl in New Orleans when you get bigger, aren't you? But don't worry, Auntie Bex won't let your daddy lock you in a tower until you're forty."_

 _"_ _Quit hogging the baby, Rebekah," Katherine complained._

 _"_ _Wait, I have a present!" Rebekah remembered._

 _She dug through her oversized purse and pulled out a small jewelry box, opening it to reveal the spelled necklace that Katherine had given Caroline the day she had announced her pregnancy._

 _Seeing her confusion, Rebekah held the necklace out so that Caroline could get a closer look. On the front of the locket, there were now three words engraved in an ornate script font: 'Always and Forever.'_

 _"_ _We got them all done this morning," Rebekah said proudly. "I found this one in your room, and snuck the other girls' off their necks while they were asleep, then we compelled the jeweler to open early and do the engravings right away, then put them all back where we found them before anyone knew they were gone."_

 _"_ _I love this, Rebekah, and I'm sure all of the girls will, too," Caroline thanked her._

 _Katherine took Victoria from Rebekah so that she could put the necklace on her. The chain of the necklace was so long on the tiny baby that the locket landed at her waist. Freya stepped forward and cast a spell that shrunk the necklace so that it was a reasonable and appropriate length._

 _"_ _We can resize all of them when we need to as the girls grow," Freya explained. "But we need to keep the two pieces of the amulet, the locket and the chain, together, otherwise the protective spells will break."_

 _Caroline just nodded in understanding, assuming that one of the witches would take care of that when the time came._

 _Rebekah reluctantly stepped away from Victoria, leaving her with Katherine._

 _"_ _Well, since it seems that we're all introducing ourselves to you, I'm Auntie Kat," Katherine told Victoria, whose wide eyes followed the face of whoever was speaking to her. "You really are very cute, even though you look like Klaus, and those big round eyes are Rebekah's. You must have enough of your mom in you to cancel out all of that Mikaelson. I hope the same principle applies to your personality. I can deal with another eternal optimist like your mom, but I don't know about another temperamental tantrum-thrower like your dad and your aunt."_

 _"_ _Could you all perhaps wait a while to start badmouthing me to my daughter?" Klaus cut in. "She's barely two hours old, and I'd like to put off her hating me for as long as I can."_

 _"_ _Then it looks like my turn is over," Katherine said. "Bye, baby girl. Who's next?"_

 _"_ _Me!" Freya exclaimed, reaching out to take Victoria from Katherine._

 _"_ _Hi, pretty girl," Freya cooed to Victoria. "I'm your Auntie Freya. Are you tired of people telling you how pretty you are yet? I hope you aren't, because you haven't met all of the family yet. You have a really big family, who all love you so much."_

 _"_ _Care, when did you say Victoria was born?" Bonnie asked._

 _"_ _6:46 a.m." Caroline answered. "Why?"_

 _"_ _I'm making her birth chart," Bonnie replied._

 _"_ _Well, she was born in early July, so that makes her a Cancer, right?" Caroline confirmed._

 _"_ _Well, now that I know her time of birth, I can tell you that her sun sign is Cancer, her moon sign is Pisces, and her ascendant is Cancer," Bonnie told her._

 _"_ _Is that good?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _There are no good and bad signs, they're just different collections of characteristics," Bonnie explained. "Victoria's particular combination means that she'll be highly emotionally intelligent, a romantic who always sees everything through rose-colored glasses, empathetic, compassionate, intuitive, emotional, sensitive, imaginative, but who can also be naïve, indecisive, unfocused, passive, shy, timid, with a tendency to be withdrawn whenever a situation is unfamiliar or she feels uncomfortable… She'll be a kind, caring individual who is considerate of the needs and feelings of others, and who can think outside of the box to come up with creative solutions."_

 _"_ _That sounds good," Caroline said._

 _"_ _If you believe that a person's personality is determined by the constellations that happen to be in sky at the exact moment that they were born," Rebekah scoffed._

 _"_ _That's rich, considering you probably don't even know your own birthday," Katherine retorted._

 _"_ _I'm just saying, Victoria is beautiful and amazing and perfect, and that has nothing to do with what date she was born. She would still be beautiful and amazing and perfect if she was born six days ago, or six weeks ago, or six months ago."_

 _"_ _Now's whose turn is it?" Freya asked._

 _"_ _I'll take her!" Kol volunteered. "She hasn't met any of her uncles yet."_

 _"_ _Should we be monitoring this?" Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear. "You seem awfully calm for someone whose newborn daughter is being passed around like a hot potato."_

 _"_ _Her family is excited to meet her and hold her for the first time," Caroline pointed out. "And since they're all witches or vampires who are more than capable of protecting her, I know that Victoria is in good hands, whoever's they may be."_

 _"_ _So how are you, and when do you get to go home?" Freya asked Caroline, sitting down on the edge of her bed._

 _"_ _I'm very happy, and healing. This time was a lot quicker and easier than last time," Caroline gestured to the twins, who had curled up next to her on the bed. "Victoria can come home tomorrow, and since I should be fully healed by then, too, we'll compel everyone we need to so that I can leave with her."_

 _"_ _Well, we're all looking forward to having you home," Freya replied._

 _Caroline looked around her hospital room. She counted at least a dozen bouquets of pink roses and at least a dozen bunches of pink balloons. Rebekah had taken charge of directing everyone's turns holding Victoria, from Kol to Elijah to Bonnie to Davina, as Finn, Marcel, Josh, Hope, and the twins waited their turn. Caroline already knew that she would cry when it came time for her to help the twins hold their baby sister, and hoped that it occurred to at least one of the adults in the room to take a picture. Because after everything that all of them had been through, this family deserved some long overdue happy memories together._

 _"_ _Yeah," Caroline replied. "Me too."_

{ }

Present

"Girls, it's almost time to go downstairs, so I need you to clean up your game now, please," Caroline requested.

Hope collected the cards while Josie folded the board and Lizzie gathered up the movers.

Caroline smiled as Rebekah directed them all to stand, demonstrating a silly little dance for them to do to shake out any wrinkles or creases that may have formed in their dresses.

The air in the room was thick with the scent of hairspray as Caroline and her bridesmaids put the finishing touches on their hair and makeup. Those who hadn't already put on their heels and their jewelry.

"Before we can go down there, we have to make sure: do you have something old?" Bonnie asked.

"I have my mom and dad's wedding bands," Caroline answered, pulling the long chain out from under her dress. Caroline had decided that this symbolic way for her parents to be present at her wedding was more important to her than the superstition of their failed marriage somehow being a bad omen for her own.

"Something new?"

"The pink pearl necklace and earrings Victoria brought from Klaus."

"Something borrowed?"

"My shoes are borrowed from Bekah's closet of never worn items," Caroline lifted her skirt to show off the cream lace pumps.

"And something blue?"

Caroline pointed to the heart-shaped aquamarine—the twins' birthstone—ring that Klaus had given her for Christmas the year before Victoria was born on the index finger of her right hand.

"Now, as your maid of honor, I am obligated to ask you this," Bonnie started. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am absolutely, positively certain that I want to do this," Caroline answered emphatically.

Then Katherine stepped forward.

"Now, as the only person who is willing to say it out loud, I am obligated to ask you this," Katherine imitated. "Are you sure that you only want to sleep with one man for the rest of your immortal life?"

Several people groaned in response.

"Yes, I am sure," Caroline replied.

"And you're sure you want to get married? Because if you ask me, 'til death do us part' is pretty much meaningless when you're immortal," Katherine continued.

"'As long as we both shall live' is a completely acceptable substitution," Caroline responded. "And I don't see marriage as an insignificant human tradition the way a lot of vampires do. And maybe that's because I haven't been a vampire long enough to forget the fairy-tale dream wedding of my childhood, but it isn't even about the perfect princess wedding as much as it's about belonging to him and him belonging to me in every possible way for the rest of our lives. I want to be Klaus's wife: the only person who he has vowed to love, no matter what, for the rest of our lives. It's the only thing, the only title, that's big enough to hold all of the love that we have for each other and the permanence of our relationship. Wedding or no wedding, Klaus is the love of my life and my forever; the wedding just makes it official, and since there's no supernatural equivalent of marriage, we have to do it the human way, which I don't think is a bad thing. It's good for us to remember that we were people before we were vampires, and to stay in touch with our humanity."

"Wow," Katherine said, taken aback by Caroline's passionate response.

"Okay, now I feel like I need to make sure that you don't just want to get married to prove some point about how special you are because you're the only person that Klaus has ever wanted to marry," Bonnie cut in.

"It isn't like that at all!" Caroline insisted. "Come on, Bonnie, you know how much I love Klaus and how much I want to be his wife. I mean, is it daunting to be with someone who has nine hundred years' worth of romantic history before you were even born? Absolutely! But I know that Klaus loves me more than he's ever loved anyone else, and that I'm the only one he's ever wanted to marry because he loves me that much. This isn't about showing off to all of the people who Klaus has ever slept with or dated, who, with possible rare exceptions, are all dead. I'm doing this for me, and for Klaus, and for the family and the life we've created together. No outside influences or ulterior motives."

Bonnie smiled, looking appeased.

"You know, I never thought I would see the day when Klaus Mikaelson got married, but a part of me always thought that he would. He just seemed like a caveman, who would want his wife to belong to him, like you said. But not even in a misogynistic, ownership sense, more like his wife would be his responsibility to protect and provide for, so that she would need him and wouldn't leave him. And we all know how much Klaus likes to feel needed, and hates to be alone," Davina chimed in.

"That was really wise," Katherine offered.

"Very insightful," Bonnie agreed.

"Have I sufficiently proven myself ready to get married now?" Caroline asked impatiently.

"You still need…" Bonnie trailed off as she rummaged around for something in Caroline's garment bag. "Found it!" she exclaimed, pulling out Caroline's veil.

Bonnie, Katherine, and Rebekah worked together to pin the cream-colored lace fabric into Caroline's hair using a gold hair comb made of hearts arranged into the shape of a tiara and decorated with small, round diamonds. Once it was in place, they flipped the front of the veil over Caroline's head so that she could see.

"Here are the flowers," Freya chimed in, holding a stack of bouquets in her arms. She handed a dozen light pink roses tied with a light pink bow to each of the adult bridesmaids, while Lizzie, Josie, and Hope each received a single rose to hold as they walked down the aisle.

"And for the flower girl," Freya gave Victoria a round white basket filled with pink rose petals. The basket was covered in a sheer layer of light pink lace, with more lace hanging around the edge of the basket like a skirt. The handle had a row of pink pearls glued along it, with a light pink bow tied around each end.

"Yay!" Victoria cheered, gripping the basket tightly.

"Remember how we practiced last night: you need to be very careful and throw small amounts of petals at a time, so that you don't run out before you get to the end," Caroline reminded her.

Victoria nodded emphatically, taking a tiny fistful of petals and letting them fall out of her hand onto the floor next to her to demonstrate.

"Just like that, great job, Victoria," Caroline approved.

Victoria beamed under her mother's praise.

"And, of course, for the bride," Freya held out a larger bouquet of eighteen light pink roses, with four pure white roses—one for each of their children—in the center, tied together with the same pink ribbon as the bridesmaids as well as a piece of lace that had torn off of the edge of her mother's veil.

Caroline took the bouquet, thanking Freya.

"So who do you all think is going to be the one to catch this?" Caroline asked.

"Are you kidding? Rebekah will physically push people out of her way if she has to so that she can catch that bouquet!" Katherine insisted.

"You're just as competitive as I am, and you're actually in a relationship! I think it will be Kat," Rebekah chimed in.

"I hope that those two are so busy fighting that no one even notices that it's fallen into Davina's lap," Freya added.

Caroline and Bonnie laughed, while Davina frantically insisted that she was not at all ready to get married, and wouldn't fight to catch the bouquet.

Then Katherine pulled a bottle of champagne from out of nowhere (knowing Katherine, she'd snuck it in herself when no one was watching) and handed it to Caroline.

"We need a toast!" she insisted.

"Do we have any glasses?" Caroline inquired.

"Um, yeah, hang on," Katherine started pulling champagne flutes out of her large designer purse.

Caroline smiled and shook her head incredulously. That was Katherine, in a nutshell.

Caroline filled each glass half-way full with champagne and distributed them to everyone who was old enough, then raised her own glass.

"In case I haven't said this enough, you all are the most amazing, fun, supportive, beautiful, loving bridesmaids and sisters a girl could ask for; I could not imagine doing this without all of you here with me, and I love you all with all of my heart," Caroline toasted. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" everyone repeated, draining their glasses.

Bonnie poured a refill for everyone, then lifted her glass.

"To the beautiful bride, the only person for whom we all would not just sit through, but participate in, Klaus Mikaelson's wedding," Bonnie said. "Caroline, you are a lighthouse, lighting the way for all of us even through the darkest nights and the fiercest storms, and no matter what life throws your way, you never stop shining. You are the most loyal, loving friend that any of us have ever had. I can't even tell you how thrilled I am that you've turned a beast into your prince charming and found your happily ever after, starting with this fairy-tale wedding. We love you so much, Caroline. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" everyone repeated again, draining their glasses once more.

"Thank you, Bonnie," Caroline said, trying not to cry, because they definitely didn't have time to fix her makeup now, or for Katherine to scold her for messing up her makeup by crying.

"You're welcome, Caroline. Now let's go get you married!" Bonnie exclaimed.

The other members of the bridal party cheered and rushed towards the door.

"Victoria, stay close to Mommy, please," Caroline called out.

The little blonde girl obediently waited for Caroline to catch up.

Somehow, they all fit in the elevator for the journey down to the ground floor.

"Is he waiting for us downstairs, or is he with the boys?" Caroline asked Rebekah quietly.

"He's waiting downstairs, he texted me," Bonnie was the one to answer.

And sure enough, when the elevator doors opened, wearing a classic black suit with a pink tie that matched the bridesmaids' dresses and his usual easygoing smile, was Matt Donovan.

From the moment she'd started planning her wedding, Caroline had searched for a place for Matt. With Tyler dead and Elena in a magical coma, she desperately wanted Matt there to represent her childhood friends—who had loved and supported each other through human and supernatural drama, and were family in all but name—along with Bonnie, who she knew right away would be her maid of honor. It wouldn't be enough for her just to invite him.

Unfortunately, Matt wasn't close enough with Klaus to be chosen as a groomsman, and even if he was, adding him would make for an uneven number or require Caroline to add someone to her bridal party—and the prospect of choosing a dress that would suit the five of them was daunting enough without adding a sixth person.

After wondering aloud if it would be too weird to have a nearly thirty-year-old man serve as their ring bearer (the general consensus was that it was, so, without a young male relative to do the job, they'd decided to tie the rings to the inside of Victoria's basket), Caroline had figured out Matt's role in the ceremony when Elijah had asked for a private word and told her that if she wanted him to and didn't have anyone else she could ask, he would be honored to walk her down the aisle.

Caroline honestly hadn't thought about that admitted important part of the ceremony until Elijah brought it up. She knew, of course, that her father was dead, and though she certainly planned to invite his partner, Steven, and Steven's daughter, she wasn't close enough to them to feel comfortable giving either of them a significant role in the wedding.

If she'd gotten married in the years between her parents' deaths, she would have automatically asked her mother, but while her mother was the natural replacement for her father, there was no one who could replace Liz Forbes.

That train of thought had led her to consider the person who had replaced her mom as sheriff, tasked with keeping Mystic Falls safe, just as her mother had. She also liked the symbolism it inspired—it would be as if Mystic Falls itself was giving her one last sendoff before she completely shed her human, small town girl cocoon and became the wife of the most powerful creature in the supernatural world and the queen of New Orleans.

So she'd called Matt later that day, asking if he could step up to represent Mystic Falls and try to fill her mother's shoes in another context, and though he'd asked her multiple times if she was sure, he'd agreed.

And now he was standing in the hotel lobby, wearing the suit she had picked out for him to wear and beaming at her.

"Care!" he greeted, stepping forward into the alcove where the elevator was located. He wrapped his arms around her in a friendly hug. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Caroline replied. "And thank you so much for being here."

"Are you kidding? I couldn't miss the military operation that Caroline Forbes's wedding is sure to be," Matt teased.

A woman carrying a clipboard and a walkie-talkie crossed the lobby towards them. The woman, whose nametag read 'Donna,' was one of the hotel's event coordinators, and though Caroline had done most of the planning for the wedding herself, Donna had handled the logistics and would be making sure that the ceremony ran smoothly, since Caroline would be too busy being the bride.

The wedding coordinator led them a few feet from the elevator to a door that led to a small room that attached to the ballroom with a short hallway. The room could be used for storage, as a dressing room, a meeting room, but for weddings, it was used as a staging area for the bridal party as they prepared to make their entrances.

The wedding coordinator instructed them all to line up in the order they would be walking in, with Victoria at the front, Caroline and Matt at the back, and Lizzie, Josie, Hope, Davina, Katherine, Freya, Rebekah, and Bonnie in between.

Donna crouched down in front of Victoria.

"Now, when I tell you, you're going to walk out into the hallway and down the aisle. You'll know when you've reached the aisle because there's a carpet laid out on the floor, okay? When you get there, start dropping little handfuls of petals from your basket. Don't throw too much at a time, you don't want to run out before you get to the end. Just keep walking and throwing petals until you reach your dad at the end of the aisle, and then you're going to sit down in the little chair we set up for you in the first row, right in front of where your mom is going to stand. Do you understand?" she asked Victoria.

"Throw flowers, walk to Daddy, sit in front of Mommy," Victoria parroted.

"Where are you going to throw the flowers?" Donna quizzed.

"Carpet," Victoria answered.

"And can you show me how you're going to throw the flowers?"

Once again, Victoria demonstrated, taking a small handful of flower petals from the basket, then letting fall out of her tiny fist and on to the floor.

"Well done," Donna complimented. "Are you ready to do it for real?"

Victoria nodded.

The wedding coordinator spoke quickly into her walkie-talkie, directing the musicians to start playing, then the videographer to start recording, and the photographer to get ready to take the pictures.

Donna waited four seconds, then said, "It's time to go, Victoria."

Victoria stepped forward into the hallway and out of Caroline's sight.

Donna the wedding coordinator could either still see her, or she just had a lot of experience with arranging weddings in the hotel ballroom, because she waited for almost a minute (and over a dozen camera clicks, making Caroline grateful that the photographer was taking her request to 'photograph every single second of this wedding' seriously) until Victoria must have been about halfway down the aisle before turning to Lizzie, Josie, and Hope.

"Okay, girls, it's your turn. Remember to hold your flowers at your waist and not at your chest, it will look better in the pictures."

The girls linked arms, holding their single roses, as requested, at their waists with both hands, closing the links of their little human chain.

"Perfect, now go," Donna instructed.

They stepped forward, following Victoria into the ballroom.

{ }

 _July 10, 2018 (two years, four months earlier)_

 _Lizzie wandered into the dining room, rubbing her eyes._

 _"_ _Mommy, Victoria's crying again," she said._

 _"_ _I hear her, thank you, sweetie," Caroline replied._

 _"_ _Why is Victoria always crying?" Victoria asked as Caroline stood up to go take care of the baby._

 _"_ _She's only a week old, Lizzie, she doesn't know how to talk yet," Caroline explained. "Crying is the only way she knows how to let people know that she's hungry, or she needs her diaper changed, or she's tired and needs a nap."_

 _"_ _When will she learn how to talk?" Lizzie asked._

 _"_ _Not for several months, I'm afraid," Caroline answered._

 _Caroline knew that adjusting to having a newborn in the house was challenging for the girls, and she wished she could be more sympathetic to their annoyance, but as the mother of said newborn, as well as two four-year-olds, she was far more stressed out and sleep-deprived than they were._

 _"_ _I found her!" Katherine's voice called out to someone from the doorway. She was carrying Josie on her hip and had her purse slung over her shoulder._

 _Rebekah and Freya, who was holding Victoria, entered the room moments later._

 _"_ _Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I just needed to grab a blood bag before I started to desiccate, but I can take her now, thanks, Freya," Caroline responded._

 _"_ _That isn't the plan," Katherine said. "And we were actually looking for Thing Two, not you."_

 _Lizzie scrambled out of her chair and over to where Katherine, Rebekah, and Josie were waiting._

 _"_ _Then what is your plan?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _We're taking the twins shopping," Katherine answered. "Freya and Elijah are going to babysit Victoria, and you are going to sleep for more than an hour at a time for the first time in a week."_

 _Caroline opened her mouth to protest that Victoria and the twins were her responsibility, but Katherine interrupted her before she could even get a word out._

 _"_ _Caroline, take advantage of the fact that you have a house full of family members who love your children and will gladly supervise them so that you can get some rest," Katherine ordered. Then she delivered the final blow. "You aren't doing any of your girls any good if you are running yourself ragged trying to take care of them to the point where you aren't eating or sleeping, and either desiccate or become the first vampire in history to pass out from exhaustion."_

 _Caroline could tell from the resolute expressions on Katherine and Rebekah's faces that they would not be entertaining any arguments from her, even if she wasn't too exhausted to argue anyway._

 _"_ _Try not to go too overboard," Caroline sighed. "I don't want them to think that we're bribing them into liking their baby sister."_

 _"_ _Don't worry, Mom, we're just going to get some piercings, maybe a few tattoos, see if we can get some guys to buy us drinks," Katherine listed facetiously._

 _"_ _Katherine! We're going to the Disney Store, and Carter's, and Build-a-Bear Workshop, and maybe Cinnabon!" Rebekah scolded reproachfully._

 _"_ _I guess we can go with your plan," Katherine relented._

 _"_ _Please be good for Auntie Bekah and Auntie Kat," Caroline told the twins._

 _She waited until Rebekah's car pulled out of the driveway before racing upstairs for a long-overdue nap._

 _When they returned several hours later, all four of them laden with shopping bags, Caroline was the closest she'd been to well-rested since Victoria was born._

 _"_ _Mommy!" she heard the twins call for her._

 _Caroline dashed downstairs to meet them._

 _"_ _Oh my goodness," Caroline murmured when she saw them. "Rebekah, I said don't go overboard!"_

 _Rebekah and Katherine had bought each of the twins at least twice as many clothes as were already in their closets, both from the shopping trip Rebekah and Klaus had taken them on when they first arrived in New Orleans and from what Alaric had shipped to them from their former home in Mystic Falls._

 _At least on that first trip, Rebekah had largely limited herself to clothes that came in pink; now, from what Caroline could see threatening to spill out of the overstuffed bags, they must have cleared out every item of clothing that came in the twins' sizes from every children's clothing store, in any color._

 _"_ _Oops, my bad," Rebekah responded unapologetically._

 _"_ _Mommy, look at this cool dress Auntie Bekah bought me!" Josie exclaimed._

 _Josie held up a cap-sleeved dress made of a shimmering, iridescent fabric that appeared to be either silver, periwinkle, or lilac depending on the lighting._

 _"_ _That is very cool," Caroline agreed._

 _As Lizzie and Josie kept pulling the clothes they'd chosen out of the bags to show her, Caroline was able to sense patterns in the styles of clothing each of the twins would pick now that they were given the opportunity to select their own clothes._

 _Josie seemed to favor primary colors—bright red, yellow, and blue—and cool-toned pastels—the more difficult it was to tell whether the color in question was light blue or light purple, the more Josie seemed to like it—and simple, uniform prints like stripes, polka dots, and chevron print._

 _Lizzie, on the other hand, was in the market for a new favorite color after hearing Rebekah say that her goal was to ensure that Victoria would never wear an outfit that wasn't pink—and from the appearance of her shopping bags, she'd decided to try every color to determine her new favorite, although it seemed that, just like she hadn't wanted to share pink with her younger sister, she also didn't want to have the same favorite color as Hope, since green was the only color entirely absent._

 _"_ _Look at all the colors, Mommy!" Lizzie cried, as if she herself had discovered them._

 _Her bags were stuffed full of clothes of all sorts of different colors, though unlike Josie, she seemed more attracted to warmer colors—shades of orange and red, some yellows and purples—and Caroline saw that she hadn't completely given up pink, but instead had chosen colors that Caroline would think of as 'pink-adjacent'—rose and blush; peach and salmon; coral, berry, and fuchsia—though any shade seemed to be acceptable when it was part of a print, since Caroline saw several floral prints featuring some pink flowers._

 _"_ _Did you have fun choosing all of those colors?" Caroline asked._

 _Lizzie nodded enthusiastically._

 _"_ _We both like purple, and yellow, and red; and all of us like purple," Lizzie said. "But I'm the only one the likes orange. And I love the pinkish-orangish colors, and the pinkish-purplish colors."_

 _"_ _I'm glad you've found so many colors you like," Caroline told her._

 _When Lizzie was that happy and excited, her blue eyes sparkled and almost seemed to laugh. While the muted blue color of her eyes came from Alaric, the exuberant expression could have only come from Jo._

 _After Victoria was born, Caroline found it hard to believe that she and Klaus had ever entertained the idea that Lizzie looked anything like what a child of theirs would look like. Yes, she had soft blue eyes that were somewhat similar to Klaus's, but how many millions of people in the world had blue eyes? And her hair color was approximately half-way between Klaus's and Caroline's, but genetics didn't work by taking both parents' genes and averaging them out._

 _Klaus had even confessed to Caroline that, for a time, Lizzie had even reminded him of a young Rebekah, though when Caroline asked what it was about the little girl that reminded him of his younger sister, the blonde hair and blue eyes were as specific as he could articulate._

 _Now that they had Victoria, they no longer needed to pin the hopes of what felt like a forbidden dream on Lizzie. They didn't need to imagine what their biological daughter would look like, because now they knew what she looked like—a tiny version of Caroline, with Rebekah's eyes and Klaus's mouth._

 _Yet Caroline didn't—couldn't—feel that Victoria had accomplished something that Lizzie had failed to. Lizzie simply wasn't the biological child that Klaus and Caroline had been certain they could never have._

 _As their entire family was trying to adapt to the massive change of having a new baby in the house, Lizzie had also had to react to several members of the family viewing her differently, as well as releasing her from unrealistic expectations that she had never asked for._

 _So while some of the attention that Lizzie had received up until recently now was given to Victoria, she had also been given a little more freedom, such as choosing the colors of her clothes._

 _"_ _Where's Klaus? He went out before we left, and he still isn't back yet," Katherine wondered._

 _"_ _Marcel called him early this morning. Apparently a visiting vampire spent the night drinking from as many unsuspecting tourists as he could get his hands on. They had to find him, snap his neck to keep him restrained, find out if he was on vervain, bleed it out of him if he was, then compel him to leave the city if he can't follow the rules," Caroline answered._

 _"_ _Why did Marcel need Klaus's help with that?" Katherine asked, arching an eyebrow._

 _Caroline hesitated._

 _"_ _Girls, why don't we have a little fashion show of all of the clothes we bought today so that your mom can see?" Rebekah suggested._

 _The girls took their bags and ran out of the room._

 _"_ _It's more that Klaus volunteered," Caroline said quietly as soon as the twins were out of earshot._

 _"_ _Why?" Rebekah asked._

 _"_ _He's avoiding Victoria," Caroline replied._

 _"_ _Again, why?" Rebekah repeated._

 _"_ _He still seems to think that Victoria is too perfect for him, and that he would taint her or ruin her if he gets too close to her," Caroline sighed._

 _"_ _Well, of course Victoria is perfect," Rebekah responded._

 _"_ _She's also his daughter," Katherine added. "He can't avoid her forever, and he's already such a huge part of her, so if he was going to ruin her as he claims, I'm pretty sure inheriting half of her DNA from him would have already taken care of that."_

 _"_ _No positive thought can survive around you, can it?" Rebekah accused._

 _Just then, the girls came skipping back into the room, Josie in a royal blue and white striped dress with a bow in the front, and Lizzie in a mauve dress with a sequined top, tulle skirt, and lavender ribbon belt around the waist._

 _"_ _Those are very pretty dresses," Caroline complimented, which caused both girls to grin._

 _"_ _Let's see another outfit," Katherine encouraged._

 _The girls scampered back out of the room as quickly as they came._

 _"_ _I want to check on Victoria while they get changed," Caroline announced._

 _Caroline used her vampire hearing to locate Elijah and Freya in Elijah's study._

 _Victoria, wearing a pink onesie decorated with little teddy bears dressed up as ballerinas, was sitting in her light pink bouncer while Elijah read aloud from the newspaper._

 _"_ _Thank you so much for watching her while I slept," Caroline told them. "How was she?"_

 _"_ _Completely lacking any interest in personal finance," Elijah answered seriously. "She was wide awake and completely attentive—well, as attentive as a one-week-old baby can be—throughout the local news, national news, politics, and style sections, but she fell asleep when I got to business, she cried the entire time I read from the sports page, and by the time I finished and moved on to the weather, she'd worn herself out and was fast asleep."_

 _Caroline laughed._

 _"_ _I'm sure you'll teach them all they need to know, just maybe not in the first week," she joked._

 _Caroline unstrapped the now wide awake Victoria from her bouncy seat and held her against her shoulder._

 _"_ _Okay, I'm taking Victoria with me, so you two are officially relieved from babysitting duties. I really appreciate your help," Caroline told them._

 _Elijah and Freya both replied that it had been no trouble at all before Caroline and Victoria went back to the dining room._

 _"_ _Hi, baby princess!" Rebekah exclaimed as soon as she saw Victoria._

 _"_ _Oh, here we go," Katherine muttered under her breath._

 _Caroline had to fight to hold back a laugh, understanding Katherine's reaction._

 _Rebekah was obsessed with Victoria. More cynical members of the family thought that she was just being fickle, as she often was, and that as soon as Victoria's newness wore off, Rebekah wouldn't treat her any differently than she did the other girls. Caroline didn't have the time or energy to theorize about how Rebekah might act in the future, and for now, she was just glad that Rebekah loved spending time with Victoria and was eager to help out._

 _Rebekah offered Victoria her hand, and the baby reflexively latched on to Rebekah's index finger with her fist._

 _Josie and Lizzie returned a moment later, Lizzie wearing a coral dress with fabric flowers on the sleeves, and Josie wearing a dress in the color that must be the precise meeting point of pastel blue and pastel purple._

 _"_ _This is my favorite color," Josie announced._

 _"_ _That seems fitting," Klaus responded, standing in the doorway._

 _Lizzie ran over to give him a hug, but Josie stood resolutely and demanded an explanation to Klaus's statement._

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _"_ _Well, this color appears to be part blue and part purple. Among other things, the color blue symbolizes trust, calmness, confidence, and stability; and purple symbolizes nobility, power, wisdom, and magic—all of which are qualities that you possess."_

 _Josie considered this for a moment._

 _"_ _It's a compliment," Katherine cut in._

 _"_ _I'm magic, too," Lizzie interrupted._

 _"_ _She needs a sign: 'Caution: former youngest child, not adjusting well,'" Katherine teased._

 _"_ _Be nice," Caroline requested._

 _"_ _How was my littlest love while I was gone?" Klaus asked, walking over to Caroline and Victoria._

 _"_ _Rebekah and Katherine orchestrated a hostile takeover to get me to sleep, so she spent the morning with Elijah, reading the newspaper, while Bekah and Kat took the twins shopping," Caroline answered._

 _"_ _She's reading already?" Klaus asked jokingly. "You're so smart, my little princess."_

 _"_ _Well, Elijah was quite discouraged that she fell asleep when he read the business section to her, but apparently she was a fan of the politics and style sections," Caroline commented. "Do you want to take her?"_

 _Klaus shook his head._

 _"_ _She looks content with you, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the peace and quiet."_

 _Caroline exchanged a concerned look with Rebekah._

 _She knew how much Klaus loved their daughter. She just needed to find a way to prove to him that she loved him and needed him in return._

{ }

 _August 3, 2018 (two years, three months earlier)_

 _Very early in the morning on the day that Victoria turned one month old, Caroline packed their bags and strapped Victoria, Lizzie, and Josie into the backseat of her car. Caroline had specifically planned the trip for that day, since it was a Friday, which meant that Hayley would be coming soon to pick up Hope, so Hope wouldn't be the only child left in the Mikaelson house while they were gone._

 _With three young children, the drive took longer than the sixteen hours her phone thought it would take. Victoria needed to be fed or have her diaper changed every few hours, and the twins needed regular bathroom and snack breaks as well._

 _It was well past midnight when they finally arrived. Caroline carried all three girls inside and tucked them in bed before retrieving their luggage and going to sleep herself._

 _The next morning, Caroline dressed Victoria in one of the many light pink lace dresses that Rebekah had purchased for her, a matching pink lace headband with a bow made of the same pink lace material attached, and tiny white Mary Jane shoes with pink bows covering the straps. Josie and Lizzie were old enough to dress themselves most of the time, but that morning they each needed help doing up the zippers on the backs of their dresses—Josie's navy blue on top with a navy and white striped skirt and a red belt, Lizzie's a pastel watercolor floral pattern on top with a peach tulle skirt and a taupe belt with an ivory rose attached to it._

 _Then she strapped all three of them into their car seats and drove to the edge of town._

 _"_ _Where are we?" Josie asked when they reached their destination._

 _"_ _We're here to visit Grandma," Caroline told her._

 _The twins had been to a cemetery before, at Alaric's funeral, and a few times to visit him since, but they were still too little to really understand the point of visiting a dead loved one. Whenever they went to Alaric's grave, they just stared uncomfortably at the headstone, either unable or unwilling to make the connection between it and their father._

 _"_ _Is Grandma in the ground like Daddy?" Lizzie asked._

 _Caroline made a mental note to make another attempt at explaining death to the twins, since their current way of describing people who had passed away would sound insensitive to anyone outside of the family._

 _"_ _Grandma died a few years ago, and now she's buried here," Caroline tried to explain._

 _"_ _Okay," Josie seemed to understand._

 _"_ _Here we are," Caroline announced, coming to a stop in front of her mother's grave. "See? It says, 'Elizabeth Forbes.' That's Grandma's name."_

 _"_ _My name is Elizabeth, too!" Lizzie exclaimed._

 _"_ _That's right; you were named after Grandma," Caroline responded._

 _They stood silently for a moment, then Caroline started speaking._

 _"_ _Hi, Mom, I'm back," Caroline said. "And this time I brought the girls with me. All three of them. Mom, I want to introduce you to our newest addition, Victoria Grace. She's a month old as of yesterday, and she's beautiful, and perfect, and so very loved. I wish that you were here to meet her for real."_

 _Caroline paused to organize her thoughts, considering what to tell her mother next._

 _"_ _Caroline?" a familiar voice called out._

 _Caroline turned around to see Matt Donovan approaching them, a multiple bouquets of white flowers in his hands._

 _"_ _Hi, Matt!" Caroline greeted enthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"_

 _Matt stepped forward to greet Caroline with a one-armed hug, so as not to crush the flowers he was holding, inadvertently avoiding touching the baby resting against Caroline's shoulder in the process. Then he knelt down and hugged each of the twins, who greeted him cheerfully._

 _"_ _I should asked you the same question," Matt replied. "I try to stop by once a week, though I can't always come as regularly as I'd like."_

 _Caroline was touched by Matt's dedication to her mother and his predecessor as sheriff._

 _"_ _I really appreciate that you come visit her," Caroline told him._

 _Matt shrugged off Caroline's emotional, heartfelt thanks._

 _"_ _I'm the only one left," he said. "It only seems right for me to check up on all of the loved ones we've all lost. So when I come to visit Vicki and Tyler, I stop to pay my respects to your parents, Elena's parents and Aunt Jenna, Bonnie's Grams, even Stefan in that creepy Salvatore crypt."_

 _"_ _Thank you for doing that, Matt," Caroline said._

 _Matt just nodded._

 _"_ _Now enough talk about the dead, I'm far more interested in what you and these girls who have grown so much since I last saw them have been up to," Matt changed the subject._

 _"_ _Funny you should mention that," Caroline started._

 _"_ _Only you could turn a basic, 'How have you been' into a 'Funny you should mention that,'" Matt chuckled._

 _Caroline turned Victoria around and shifted so that Matt could see her._

 _"_ _You have a baby," Matt stated, clearly stunned._

 _"_ _Yes, I have a baby," Caroline replied patiently._

 _"_ _Wait a minute," Matt took a couple of steps forward. "She looks like you."_

 _"_ _That's because she's my daughter," Caroline responded._

 _"_ _How is that possible?" Matt asked._

 _Caroline told Matt all about The Void, how Esther had come back to life, Esther's plans to kill Hope, and all of the times that Caroline had found herself caught in the middle of those plans, including the time when Esther had magically orchestrated Caroline's pregnancy._

 _"_ _That all sounds insane," Matt managed to respond. "Even more insane than the last time you got pregnant."_

 _"_ _Agreed, though the pregnancy itself was considerably easier and less stressful," Caroline added._

 _"_ _So, you still haven't told me her name, or how old she is," Matt pointed out._

 _"_ _Right, sorry," Caroline said. "Matt, this is Victoria. Victoria Grace Mikaelson. And she is one month and one day old."_

 _Caroline smiled down at the baby, and when she looked up, she saw that Matt's eyes were glassy._

 _"_ _You named her Victoria?" he asked quietly._

 _"_ _Yeah," Caroline confirmed. "Partly because I wanted her to have a queen's name like my mom and me, and this one was especially perfect because it's the name of the Roman goddess of victory, which is the equivalent of the goddess that Klaus's name comes from, and partly because I wanted to honor all of the loved ones that weren't fortunate enough to survive Mystic Falls like we did, sort of like what you're doing by visiting all of their graves."_

 _Matt smiled softly._

 _"_ _Thanks, Caroline."_

 _He shifted a little awkwardly, clearly intent on saying something but unsure of how best to say it._

 _"_ _I just have to know," Matt blurted eventually. "It's hard for me to picture Klaus as a father, so I need you to tell me, truthfully, that he's a good dad to her."_

 _"_ _To all of them," Caroline promised._

 _If Matt was uncomfortable or upset by Caroline referring to Klaus as the twins' father as well, he didn't show it._

 _"_ _Good," Matt looked at Victoria, then each of the twins in turn, before he leaned down to place his flowers in front of Liz's grave. "They deserve better than what we had."_

{ }

 _September 18, 2018 (two years, two months earlier)_

 _Klaus could hear Victoria crying using his supernatural hearing abilities, and the baby monitor that he still wasn't sure why Caroline had bothered to purchase, given the aforementioned supernatural hearing abilities._

 _He waited a second to determine if Victoria's cries had woken Caroline, but it seemed that this was one of the infrequent occasions when Caroline's sheer exhaustion won out over her vampire reflexes, because she remained sound asleep._

 _Klaus pulled himself out of bed to go tend to Victoria. It wasn't unusual for him to be the one to get up in the middle of the night to feed or soothe the baby, but Caroline did it more often than he did because of their sleep schedules. Caroline, who lived by the 'early to bed, early to rise' mentality, would feed and change Victoria shortly before she went to bed, then Klaus, a night-owl, would check on her and feed her or change her diaper if necessary before he went to bed. That way, by the time Victoria woke up in the middle of the night, Caroline had already had several consecutive hours of sleep, and any additional sleep she was able to get after she got Victoria back to sleep would be a bonus._

 _Klaus quickly made his way next door to Victoria's nursery, hoping that she wouldn't wake anyone else up. The girls had gotten pretty good at tuning out their baby sister's crying, and his siblings had had centuries of experience deliberately not using their vampire hearing._

 _As he approached Victoria's crib, Klaus saw the baby lying on her back, wiggling her arms and legs, trying to free herself from her blankets. Smiling at her determined squirming, Klaus took pity on his daughter and picked her up._

 _"_ _What seems to be the matter, my littlest love?" Klaus asked Victoria. "You don't need to be changed. Are you hungry?"_

 _Klaus wasn't sure why he asked when he knew she couldn't answer him, yet he still felt his frustration increase when she continued to cry._

 _"_ _Do you want your mother? I can't blame you, I would want Caroline instead of me, as well. Your mother always seems to know exactly what you want and exactly the right thing to do."_

 _While he knew that Caroline knew the circumstances of Hope's birth and the first months of her life, Klaus wasn't quite certain that she'd ever considered the implications: namely, that he'd never had a newborn before._

 _Hope had been in his custody for mere hours after her birth before he had handed her over to his sister for safekeeping. It was only after eight long months that he saw Hope again._

 _By then, she was sitting up on her own, eating baby food out of a jar, and sleeping through the night a lot of the time. He had no frame of reference for any development that had occurred before then, and even though he had done research to try to make up for it, he had no first-hand experience._

 _So he had no idea what he could do to get his six-week-old daughter, who did not seem to need to be fed or have her diaper changed, to go back to sleep._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Victoria, I'm not very good at this, I'm afraid," Klaus apologized._

 _He moved to sit down on the rocking chair they kept in the corner of the room._

 _A few minutes of quiet rocking did nothing to lull Victoria back to sleep, though her cries did decrease in volume, so Klaus concluded that he was doing something right._

 _Klaus looked down at Victoria, wearing tiny pink fleece pajamas, her increasingly silver eyes blinking sluggishly up at him._

 _"_ _Were you just lonely, sweetheart? You spend all day with the whole family doting on you, showering you with attention and affection, and then when it's bedtime you're in here all alone, but you've learned that whenever you cry, someone comes running to give you whatever you want," Klaus shook his head, smiling. "It's taken you all of six weeks to figure out how manipulate all of us. You truly are a Mikaelson."_

 _"_ _It's a lifetime of this for me," Klaus continued. "You will never want for anything. There is no limit to what I would do to keep you safe and happy. You aren't old enough to understand this now, but in the world we live in, I'm the king, and your mother is my queen, which makes you our princess. Our sweet, beautiful, perfect littlest princess."_

 _Victoria yawned, her tiny mouth forming a perfect 'O' shape._

 _"_ _And because you're so sweet and beautiful and perfect, my little princess, I never want anything to hurt you or make you unhappy, and I've been so afraid that maybe I could hurt you or make you unhappy. I've worried that I would taint you or ruin you, because I'm not perfect like you are, or like your mother is. But no matter what, I need you to know and never doubt that I love you with every fiber of my being. There aren't even words that I can use to accurately describe to you just how much I love you."_

 _Victoria had finally stopped crying and now looked moments away from succumbing to sleep, so Klaus decided to keep talking to her until then._

 _"_ _I didn't have a good father, but I want to be better than he was, for you, because you deserve better than what I had to suffer. You deserve the best. And I can't promise that I'll be perfect, or that I'll never mess up or let my own fears and insecurities get the best of me, but I can promise that I will always try to be good enough for you. I want you to be as proud to be my daughter as I am to be your father."_

 _When Klaus looked back down, he saw that Victoria was finally asleep. He smiled and carefully stood up so as not to disturb her, then made his way across the room to place her in her crib._

 _Klaus placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then pulled her pink baby blanket up to cover her._

 _"_ _Sweet dreams, my sleeping beauty."_

{ }

 _October 31, 2018 (two years, one week earlier)_

 _Caroline might have just officially reached the end of her rope._

 _She was trying to get four children ranging from four-months-old-on-Saturday to six-and-a-half-on-Friday into their Halloween costumes, while setting up for the Halloween party she was throwing—which happened to be the first event she'd hosted since before Victoria was born. The girls were too excited at the prospect of candy to cooperate, which meant Caroline needed to be upstairs in the twins' room supervising them rather than in the courtyard setting up the decorations, and the rest of the Mikaelson family had practically disappeared._

 _Well, that wasn't entirely fair. Rebekah, Freya, and Bonnie had asked when it would be most convenient for them to go change into their costumes, and, now realizing that she'd grossly underestimated the amount of work she still had to do, Caroline had told them to go ahead, assuming that Hayley would be arriving any minute to help get Hope ready._

 _But Hayley was running late, without even an apology text, and Caroline was already on edge after Bonnie had announced yesterday that she planned to move out in the new year._

 _Caroline understood where her friend was coming from: As Bonnie put it herself, "When I first came to New Orleans, I had no idea how long I would be staying. Then everything with The Void happened, then I stayed to help you defeat Esther, then I stayed with you during your pregnancy and to help you take care of a newborn, but you don't need me under the same roof anymore, and I want to be a single, independent woman living on her own in the big city for the first time."_

 _As far as Caroline could tell, Bonnie hadn't told anyone else about her intentions to find her own place to live, and she didn't want to be the one to share that information if Bonnie wanted to keep it to herself, so she couldn't even talk to anyone (except Victoria, though not being able to talk yet seriously hindered her daughter's ability to give helpful advice) about how her best friend was leaving her._

 _"_ _Have I told you that your idea to throw a Halloween party here tonight is genius?"_

 _Klaus was standing in the doorway, having just returned from a patrol of the neighborhood with Marcel, trying to stop any potentially harmful Halloween pranks before they could happen._

 _"_ _Not recently, why do you say so?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _With every supernatural creature in the city in our courtyard, they won't be out terrorizing the human population," Klaus explained._

 _"_ _I must admit, the thought did occur to me while I was planning," Caroline acknowledged. "I have to help the girls change into their costumes, and we're going in order of how likely it is that they'll spit up on their costumes, so can you take the baby while I help the twins?"_

 _"_ _I can do that," Klaus agreed, a little stiffly. He had gotten a lot more comfortable around Victoria in recent weeks, though he still hadn't completely overcome his worries that Victoria was too good for him and would be better off without him. Caroline imagined that they would have to revisit this topic the first time Victoria misbehaved, since she doubted that Klaus would immediately feel comfortable disciplining her, but he did go out of his way to hold her and talk to her more than he had when she was first born._

 _Caroline handed Victoria, still wearing an ordinary pink dress rather than anything festive, over to Klaus._

 _"_ _Hello there, my littlest love," Klaus greeted Victoria, as he always did. "We're having a party, are you excited?" Victoria made a little noise that Klaus interpreted as being in the affirmative. "What's there for you to be excited about? You can't eat any candy: you don't have teeth!" He told her in a deceptively cheerful tone that made the twins laugh and Victoria offer a gummy baby smile._

 _Caroline's phone vibrated on the dresser, and she picked it up immediately, seeing Hayley's contact name (her name followed by a green heart emoji, a wolf emoji, a crown emoji, and another green heart emoji) appear on her screen._

'A member of my pack triggered their curse today, but I've done everything I can for him and I'm on my way now.'

 _"_ _Hope, your mom is on her way," Caroline told her. "Someone from your wolf pack triggered their curse today, so she needed to help him."_

 _Hope nodded agreeably._

 _Caroline set down the phone and picked up the packages that twins' costumes had come in._

 _"_ _Which one of you wants to go first?" she asked._

 _Both Lizzie and Josie excitedly cheered, "Me!"_

 _"_ _I thought they would dress up as princesses since they already have the costumes," Klaus said._

 _Caroline rolled her eyes. She took Josie's costume out of the bag, picking up the tights and leaving the rest on her bed._

 _"_ _That would be no fun, since they already have the costumes and wear them to play all the time," Caroline explained. "They want something different for Halloween."_

 _"_ _So what did you and Rebekah pick out for the littlest one?" Klaus asked._

 _Caroline pointed to the clear plastic bag on Lizzie's bed that held the pink Minnie Mouse costume that she and Rebekah had fallen in love with in the store and decided that Victoria just had to have._

 _"_ _She doesn't even get a break from pink on Halloween," Klaus commented._

 _"_ _Never," Caroline agreed. "But she does get to wear mouse ears."_

 _Caroline instructed Josie to sit on the bed so that she could help her with the tights, which, at four, the girls still had trouble with. When her tights were in place, Caroline grabbed the leotard and let Josie lean on her shoulder for balance while she stepped into it._

 _Josie was just pushing her arms through the sleeves of the leotard when Hayley came rushing into the room._

 _"_ _Hi, Mom!" Hope greeted enthusiastically._

 _Hayley was already in her costume, dressed as Robin Hood in an olive green blouse, tan trousers and a matching vest, dark brown flat boots, a quiver of arrows hanging across her back, and an olive green cap with a feather in it._

 _"_ _Hey, great costume! Hope's costume is on Josie's bed if you want to help her get ready," Caroline told Hayley, who nodded._

 _While Caroline helped Josie with her tutu, which instead of having an elastic waistband, wrapped around and tied with a ribbon, Hayley quickly helped Hope change into the top and skirt of her costume._

 _Once they had each put on the accessories that went along with their costumes, Caroline did Josie's hair, tying the top half up using the ribbon that matched the one on her skirt._

 _"_ _Look, I'm a fairy!" Josie announced as soon as Caroline finished._

 _Josie had chosen the costume based on the fact that it came in her new favorite color, and that fairies could do magic, but weren't witches (because, as she put it, what was the point of dressing up as a witch when she already was a witch?). The costume was made up of white tights, a light bluish-purple leotard, a tutu made of alternating layers of purple and blue tulle, iridescent blue and purple wings with silver trim, a silver wand with a purple star-shaped jewel at the top, and dark purple flat shoes with ribbons that laced up her legs and tied in a bow just under her knees._

 _"_ _You're an adorable fairy, Josie," Caroline said._

 _Then Hope stepped forward to show off her costume._

 _Hope was dressed as Wonder Woman, wearing the blue skirt patterned with white stars, the red top with the superhero's logo, and the signature boots and bracelets._

 _"_ _Is it my turn now?" Lizzie asked, still wearing the orange tee-shirt with a smiling jack-o'-lantern that she'd been wearing all day._

 _"_ _Yes, we'll get you ready, and then get Victoria ready, and then it will be time to finish the decorations. You three can help, won't that be fun?" Caroline said._

 _"_ _When I got here, Kol and Davina were taking care of the decorations," Hayley mentioned._

 _"_ _That is the best news I've heard all day," Caroline sighed in relief. "I mean, I'll still have to make sure everything is in place according to the chart, but moving a few things is a lot less work than setting everything up in the first place."_

 _"_ _You know what's even less work than that? Taking a deep breath and not being an uptight micromanager," Katherine said, announcing her presence._

 _Katherine had decided to dress up as a pirate, even though everyone had expected her to dress up as Catwoman, responding to the suggestion by insisting that the costume would be a little too on-brand for her. She was wearing a short black and white striped skirt, fishnet stockings, over-the-knee black leather boots, a white off-the-shoulder peasant blouse with a black corset over it, and a black and white bandana tied over her long curly hair. Caroline knew that there was no way she could have reined Katherine in completely and convinced her to choose a costume that was child-friendly, but knowing Katherine, she could have worn something much more frightening or provocative than what she was wearing._

 _"_ _Actually, an extreme makeover of my entire personality sounds like it would be a lot of work," Caroline retorted._

 _"_ _She has a point," Freya offered from behind Katherine._

 _Freya was dressed as Holly Golightly from_ Breakfast at Tiffany's _in a classic black dress, pearl necklace, and heels, with her hair, temporarily dyed dark brown, twisted into a neat knot at the back of her head._

 _"_ _We can help get Lizzie ready so that you and Klaus can get Victoria changed into her costume, if that will help you out?" Freya offered._

 _"_ _Yes, thank you," Caroline replied._

 _Caroline took Victoria from Klaus and laid her down on Lizzie's bed, quickly exchanging her day dress for the bubblegum pink polka-dotted dress of her costume and covering her chubby little legs with white tights. Then she tied the oversized bow at the front of the dress, straightened the lace trim at the hem of the dress and the sleeves, fastened the black patent Mary Jane shoes with matching pink bows covering the straps, and put the Minnie Mouse ear headband featuring a matching pink bow on Victoria's head._

 _The reason that Caroline and Rebekah had chosen this particular costume for baby Victoria was that it wasn't much different from what she usually wore, so it wouldn't be unusual or uncomfortable for her. At the heart of it, the costume was just a pink dress, which Victoria wore almost every day. This dress just had Minnie Mouse's signature polka dot pattern, and her headband had mouse ears decorated with a pink bow rather than a pink heart or flower._

 _"_ _She's so precious!" Rebekah exclaimed from the doorway._

 _Rebekah was stunning as Marilyn Monroe, wearing her infamous white dress and matching heels. She'd curled her long blonde hair and pinned it in such a way that the length appeared to only reach the tops of her shoulders._

 _Rebekah quickly walked over and picked Victoria up, speaking quietly to the baby._

 _"_ _Lizzie's finished, too," Freya announced, stepping back to let them see._

 _"_ _Why did she want to be a bee?" Klaus asked Caroline in a whisper._

 _"_ _She liked it, and she saw that Josie had wings, so she wanted wings, and this was the cutest costume in the store that came with wings," Caroline said._

 _As odd as her costume choice may have seemed, Lizzie looked adorable in her black and yellow striped top, yellow tulle tutu with black trim, black tights, and translucent dark grey wings. The costume hadn't come with shoes, so she was just wearing her black ballet flats. Freya had coiled her honey-colored hair into a bun that resembled a honeycomb before putting on the antenna headband._

 _"_ _You all look wonderful!" Caroline cheered. "If we're all ready, we can go downstairs to see how the set up for the party is coming along!"_

 _"_ _Wait for me!" Bonnie shouted, running down the hallway. Bonnie was wearing a_ Harry Potter _themed costume: a long black robe with the Ravenclaw house logo, a white button-down shirt with a blue striped tie, a grey pleated skirt, blue and grey argyle socks, and black shoes._

 _"_ _Hold a grown-up's hand, please, girls, we don't know what kind of Halloween mayhem Kol has managed in the time we were changing," Caroline said._

 _Hope took Hayley's hand, Josie took Katherine's, and Lizzie took Freya's._

 _"_ _I left Jackson down here to help out, since I knew that Kol would be the only one who would find his costume funny," Hayley said._

 _"_ _What is his costume?" Bonnie asked._

 _"_ _He's wearing the same green flannel shirt and blue jeans he's been wearing all day, but now he's carrying around an axe from the tool shed and calling himself a lumberjack," Hayley frowned._

 _"_ _That's almost funny," Bonnie offered._

 _"_ _No, it isn't," Katherine countered. "But Elijah is doing the same thing, though fortunately without any puns. I'm not sure if he's decided on James Bond, or the President of The United States for his 'costume.'"_

 _Downstairs in the courtyard, Kol (dressed as Frankenstein's monster), Davina (dressed as Dorothy from_ The Wizard of Oz _, with Josie's stuffed dog playing the role of Toto), and Jackson (dressed as a lumberjack) were trying to get the fog machine to work._

 _Caroline was pleased to see that they had started with the practical tasks—setting up the sound system, bringing tables for food and drinks outside, moving a giant cauldron to cover the planter—leaving the decorating to her._

 _"_ _Thank you for all of your help, guys!" Caroline called out._

 _"_ _You're welcome!" Davina replied._

 _Together they were able to make quick work of the remaining decorations. Caroline hung the strings of lights (some orange pumpkins, some white ghosts, and some black bats), set the jack-o'-lanterns out by the gates, and set up the spotlights (which alternated between orange, black, white, and purple) in the corners of the courtyard. Kol and Davina set up the fog machine inside the cauldron, so it looked like a witch's potion, along with some lights that let off a shower of sparks at random intervals. Hayley and Jackson hung a full moon with the shadowy silhouette of a wolf in the corner from the balcony, as well as hanging some bats and spider webs around the courtyard. Freya and Bonnie took charge of the food, covering the tables with festive tablecloths before setting out candy, the punch bowl, and the festive cookies and cupcakes that Caroline had ordered from the bakery. The twins and Hope were responsible for placing the balloons around the courtyard. Rebekah (once she'd given Victoria back to Caroline) had written messages in fake blood and drawn chalk outlines of bodies on the ground._

 _Freya had also put a boundary spell on the house, so that guests could access the courtyard, but not any of the rooms inside._

 _Caroline checked the time on her phone._

 _"_ _We have about half an hour until the first guests start to arrive," she announced. "And we're just waiting on Elijah and Finn to finish getting ready and come down here."_

 _Several members of the family looked at her questioningly._

 _"_ _What?" Caroline asked self-consciously._

 _"_ _You weren't going to wear a costume to your own Halloween party?" Freya asked tentatively._

 _Caroline looked down. She was, in fact, still wearing a Mystic Falls High Cheer sweatshirt and a pair of leggings._

 _"_ _I forgot to get myself a costume," Caroline realized. "I was so focused on buying costumes for the girls, and then preparing for the party, and then getting them ready that I forgot all about me."_

 _"_ _Okay. Did anyone buy a backup costume?" Rebekah took charge of the situation._

 _Everyone shook their heads._

 _"_ _Well, there's no way that I'll find anything this late in the day on Halloween," Caroline lamented._

 _"_ _It will be fine," Rebekah insisted. "Go up to the attic and find a dress you like. If it's from the '20s, you're Daisy Buchanan. If it's from the 18_ _th_ _century, you're Elizabeth Bennet. The possibilities for historical and literary figures up there are nearly endless, and if we all search, I'm sure we can find something decent in the time we have before the party. Give Nik the baby, Care, and let's go."_

 _Caroline, Rebekah, Freya, Katherine, Bonnie, Davina, Josie, Lizzie, and Hope rushed upstairs, running into Finn, who was wearing drab black clothes with a toy raven perched on his shoulder—clearly dressed as Edgar Allan Poe—on their way up._

 _Caroline quickly found the dresses she'd rejected the day of the Gatsby party she'd planned, which she could wear tonight because she didn't have to worry about matching with anyone else._

 _"_ _Those will be our last resort; while it's not technically repeating an outfit, it's very close," Rebekah declared._

 _"_ _These look like dresses I wore when I first arrived in Mystic Falls," Katherine said, looking through a rack of long gowns with wide hoop skirts._

 _"_ _Yes, those are very Civil War-era Southern Belle," Rebekah chuckled. Then she turned to Caroline. "Your favorite movie is_ Gone with the Wind _. Pick one of these dresses and be Scarlett O'Hara."_

 _"_ _As awful as she is, the costume will do in a pinch," Caroline agreed, grateful that they'd found something so quickly._

 _"_ _Do you not like the movie anymore?" Freya asked._

 _"_ _Not as much as when I was a teenager," Caroline answered. "Anything set in the antebellum South is automatically problematic; as much as I used to admire Scarlett's independence and perseverance, she also treated people horribly, to sum up her faults succinctly; and Rhett Butler wasn't exactly a nice guy either. It isn't a movie that I would show to my daughters and hold up as some sort of example for how they should act or what a healthy relationship looks like."_

 _"_ _Would you rather be Marie Antoinette instead?" Rebekah held up an even more elaborate dress in shades of cream and pale pink. "I stole this from her."_

 _"_ _You stole a dress from Marie Antoinette?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _It wasn't like she was going to be using it," Rebekah insisted._

 _"_ _Okay, if only for the thrill of wearing a dress that was once worn by a queen," Caroline agreed._

 _With help from Rebekah, Freya, and Katherine, Caroline changed into the dress, which had such a full skirt that she wasn't sure she would be able to fit through the door._

 _Rebekah sped out the door and returned seconds later with Caroline's makeup bag._

 _"_ _Freya and I are doing makeup, you three are on hair," Rebekah instructed. "We only have fifteen minutes until the party starts."_

 _"_ _That's cutting it very close," Caroline worried._

 _"_ _We'll be able to stall," Rebekah reassured her. "The first people to show up will be Marcel, Vincent, Josh, and Aiden anyway. Plus, Victoria's cute enough to distract from the fact that you're not there."_

 _But sure enough, thirteen minutes later, with the help of vampire speed, Caroline was as ready as she would be and they were all making their way downstairs. Had she had all day to prepare, she would have done her hair in a more polished pompadour, and she might have put on eyeshadow, but the pinned-up style that Katherine, Bonnie, and Davina had arranged her hair into was more than passable consider how quickly it had been done, and she considered everything beyond foundation and mascara a bonus in the rapid-fire makeup look she was currently wearing._

 _The party itself went off without a hitch. As soon as Caroline arrived downstairs, she was met by Marcel, who was dressed as The Phantom from_ Phantom of the Opera _. Hope was thrilled when she saw Josh and Aiden dressed as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Caroline didn't recognize Vincent's costume, which led her to believe that he was dressed as a notable figure in New Orleans's history._

 _Caroline spent the next several hours playing hostess: refilling the punch bowl, directing party guests to the nearest bathroom, giving out candy to children when they said "Trick or Treat."_

 _Victoria was with her part of the time, while other times, Klaus, Rebekah, or Freya would carry her around, showing her off to the party guests. She saw the twins less frequently than she was really comfortable with, but she knew that they were in good hands, as each of the three girls had been assigned a couple who had offered to supervise them for the night while Klaus and Caroline were busy hosting the party and essentially babysitting the entire supernatural population of New Orleans._

 _It was long past the girls' bedtimes when the last guest finally stumbled through the gates. Rebekah was holding Victoria, Klaus was standing with his arms around Caroline, Freya was taking down the boundary spell now that it was no longer necessary, and Bonnie was chatting with Marcel, who Caroline didn't consider a guest, but part of the family who didn't live with them, just like Bonnie soon would be._

 _From what Caroline could hear of their conversation, Marcel was offering to compel her an apartment in his building, and Bonnie was politely refusing the offer, citing her need to be independent and self-sufficient. Marcel asked if she would like him to at least let her know of any available units in his building so that she could consider them, to which Bonnie agreed and thanked him. Caroline appreciated Marcel's offers, knowing that she would feel much more comfortable about her best friend living alone if there was a powerful vampire living in the same building who would protect her in the event of a supernatural catastrophe (which she and Bonnie had already survived more than their fair share of)._

 _Hope was standing with Hayley and Jackson, who were saying their goodbyes to the Mikaelsons and preparing to leave as soon as they tucked Hope into bed. Josie was standing in between Kol and Davina, holding each of their hands, while Kol held the wand that came with Josie's costume, amusing her by pretending to cast spells with it. Lizzie was sitting on the ground in front of Katherine and Elijah, her tutu lying flat on the ground around her._

 _"_ _Victoria won't stop crying," Rebekah told Caroline. "Nothing I do is working."_

 _Caroline took her wailing daughter from Rebekah, but after several minutes of rocking, talking, and singing, she hadn't made any progress in trying to get Victoria to calm down._

 _"_ _Victoria won't stop crying," Caroline told Klaus. "Nothing I do is working."_

 _"_ _What do you think I can do that you haven't?" Klaus asked. "You're better at this than I am, and she likes you better than me."_

 _"_ _That isn't true," Caroline insisted. "She loves you, and she needs you."_

 _Klaus still didn't look convinced, but he did willingly take the baby._

 _"_ _Let's see if we can't get you smiling again, my little angel," Klaus said to Victoria._

 _Several startling things happened within the next few seconds._

 _Katherine collapsed._

 _The fog machine malfunctioned, causing the courtyard to go from shrouded in a light, misty haze, to looking like the middle of a tornado._

 _The lights went haywire, sparks flying everywhere like bolts of lightning._

 _"_ _Nobody likes me anymore!" Lizzie wailed._

 _"_ _Elizabeth, did you do this?" Elijah asked sternly, gesturing to Katherine lying on the ground and the thick fog swirling around them._

 _"_ _I didn't mean to!" the little girl cried._

 _"_ _You have to learn how to control it, Lizzie," Josie scolded her twin. "You can't use your powers on people every time you get mad or sad."_

 _"_ _Hey, Elijah and Elijah, Jr., you aren't helping," Marcel cut in. He leaned down closer to Lizzie's height. "Come here, honeybee."_

 _Lizzie pouted, but obligingly stood up and walked over to Marcel._

 _"_ _Marcel…" Caroline started, but wasn't sure what to say next. Should she apologize for being a bad mother? For being stretched so thin with four children that she didn't realize one of them was falling apart? For writing off Lizzie's changes in behavior as simply adjusting to having a new sibling?_

 _Marcel just nodded and picked Lizzie up._

 _"_ _Don't worry, Caroline. If there's anyone here who understands what it feels like to have your adoptive father have a biological daughter who seems more important to him than you are, it's me."_

 _As they walked away, Klaus asked quietly, "Do you know what it was that set her off?"_

 _"_ _You called Victoria your little angel, which up until now, was a term of endearment reserved for Lizzie," Caroline sighed._

 _Klaus looked surprised._

 _"_ _Oh. Well, I can go back to only using that for Lizzie," Klaus proposed, but Caroline shook her head._

 _"_ _I wouldn't. The damage has already been done. Lizzie now associates that name with Victoria, and Victoria replacing her. So use it for Victoria or don't use it Victoria, but you can't use it for Lizzie anymore."_

 _In the periphery, Caroline heard Marcel and Lizzie sit down at the dining room table._

 _"_ _And did you expect Josie to scold her the way she did?" Klaus asked._

 _"_ _Yes," Caroline answered. "I'm just glad she didn't try to set her sister on fire this time."_

 _"_ _Josie lives by the Spiderman motto: 'With great power comes great responsibility.' She takes her magical abilities very seriously, and she doesn't have much patience for Lizzie when she thinks Lizzie isn't taking her powers seriously. Josie has always had an easier time than Lizzie controlling her magic, even in stressful or emotional situations, and she hasn't developed enough empathy yet to understand that Lizzie doesn't have the same ability, so she thinks that Lizzie is being careless when she allows her emotions to control her magic."_

 _Caroline listened in on Marcel and Lizzie's conversation._

 _"_ _Come on, shortcake, you know your dad loves you," Marcel was saying. "And even if you don't know that, I know your dad loves you. And you know I wouldn't lie to you."_

 _"_ _Everyone loves Victoria more," Lizzie said quietly._

 _"_ _I don't," Marcel said bluntly. "As far as I'm concerned, all four of you are my baby sisters, and I'd take a stake through the heart for any of you. Think of it this way: do you love Josie more than you love Hope or Victoria?"_

 _"_ _No," Lizzie admitted._

 _"_ _It's the same for your parents," Marcel explained. "They love all of you the same. But you're big enough that you can walk and talk on your own, so they don't need to carry you around everywhere and spend time guessing what you want. Victoria needs more help and attention than you do right now, and it isn't because your parents like her more, it's because she's little."_

 _Caroline had to strain to hear Lizzie's small voice over the sound of Victoria crying. Klaus kept talking to her, trying to soothe her, but nothing was working._

 _"_ _I know my sweet little princess is hiding somewhere under these mouse ears," Klaus said. "Which don't look very comfortable if you ask me."_

 _Klaus pulled the headband off of Victoria's head and lifted her up so that her head was tucked under his chin._

 _Within minutes, Victoria had stopped crying and was sleeping contentedly, curled up against Klaus's chest._

 _Caroline mentally scolded herself as she realized her mistake. While Victoria did regularly wear headbands, she only ever wore the soft fabric kind that stretched around her head, not the hard plastic ones like the mouse ears._

 _"_ _I should have realized that she's not old enough yet to be desensitized to the headache that comes with wearing a headband," Caroline said. "Remember this the next time you think that you can't figure out what she needs."_

 _Klaus smiled almost shyly at Caroline before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of Victoria's head._

 _"_ _But Auntie Bekah buys pink dresses for Victoria and not me, and Klaus called Victoria his little angel and not me," Lizzie whined from the other room, clearly audible now that Victoria was silent._

 _"_ _Then you'll be his something else," Marcel told her. "And your aunt took you shopping and let you pick out dresses in every color you wanted. Isn't that better than just one color that she picked for you?"_

 _"_ _But it's just me," Lizzie continued. "Josie and Hope are the same."_

 _"_ _Everyone's different," Marcel replied. "Just because they aren't sad when you are doesn't mean you can't be sad. Maybe they just see the situation differently, or maybe they're choosing to focus on other things, like Josie working on her magic with Davina and Kol, or Hope spending half of her time with her mom and their werewolf pack. It's okay that you feel this more deeply than they seem to. You don't have to be Hope or Josie or Victoria, or your dad's little angel or your Aunt Rebekah's Barbie doll, okay? You can be anything you want to be."_

 _"_ _Be," Lizzie giggled. "I'm a bee."_

 _"_ _See? Victoria isn't a bee. You're the only bee here, and I gotta say, you're a pretty fantastic bee," Marcel told her._

 _"_ _I can be a bee."_

 _"_ _Okay, honeybee. You think you're ready to go back out there? Maybe say you're sorry for the mess you made when you got upset and lost control of your magic?"_

 _"_ _Okay," Lizzie agreed. Then, remembering her manners, "Thank you."_

 _"_ _Anytime, sunshine. I'm always here for you."_

 _Lizzie walked back out to the courtyard, holding Marcel's hand._

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she said with a pout._

 _"_ _It's all right, darling," Klaus said. "No lasting harm done. You'll get better at controlling your magic with practice."_

 _Lizzie walked over to Katherine, who was still lying unconscious on the floor._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Auntie Kat," Lizzie told her._

 _"_ _Maybe we'll try that one again when she's conscious," Caroline proposed._

 _Freya and Davina offered to put the twins to bed while Bonnie stayed behind to fix the machines and Caroline supervised clean up while feeding Victoria._

 _As Marcel made his way towards the gate, Caroline called his name to stop him._

 _"_ _Thank you," she said._

 _"_ _Like I told Lizzie, anytime," Marcel replied, and then he left._

 _"_ _Okay, but if Lizzie is convinced her new identity now that Victoria is the victim of Rebekah's desire to have a living, breathing Barbie doll to play with is a bee, we're going to need to keep her away from that weird movie with that weird talking bee who has a weird romantic relationship with a human woman," Caroline said._

 _Everyone looked varying degrees of concerned and disturbed._

 _Only Bonnie seemed to recognize the movie Caroline was referring to._

 _"_ _Yeah, we're going to need to intervene before this whole bee thing gets too weird."_

 _"_ _You're going to miss this when you're gone," Caroline told Bonnie._

 _While everyone else asked Bonnie where she was going and why she was leaving, Caroline and Bonnie dissolved into an uncontrollable fit of giggles._

 _And the next day, a gift arrived to the Mikaelson mansion for Lizzie: a sign, shaped like a bee, with the words, "You can_ _bee_ _anything you want to_ _bee_ _," written in red on the yellow stripes._

{ }

Present

"Daddy!" Caroline heard Victoria squeal happily as she reached the end of the aisle.

"My littlest love," Klaus returned, his smile audible in his voice, as he scooped Victoria up into a hug.

"Did I do good?" Victoria whispered.

"You were perfect, my little princess," Klaus assured her.

Caroline didn't hear them say anything else, so she assumed that Klaus had set Victoria down and sent her to sit in her chair.

"Now it's the bridesmaids' turn," Donna the wedding coordinator announced. "Just like I told the little ones, hold your flowers at your waist."

Davina, who would be walking in first, nodded, adjusting her bouquet and stepping forward. At the coordinator's nod, she walked down the hallway and into the ballroom.

Donna waited less time between the bridesmaids as she had between the flower girl and the junior bridesmaids, so Katherine was sent down the aisle less than a minute later.

When it was Freya's turn, Bonnie, seeing that they were getting close to making their own entrances, turned around and helped properly position Caroline's veil so that it was covering her face. Caroline was grateful that she had waited until the last minute, since she had trouble seeing through the lace fabric.

After Rebekah's cue, Matt turned to Caroline and said, "Last chance to make a run for it."

"Thanks for the offer, but no," Caroline replied.

"Okay, then," Matt replied.

Bonnie offered them both a smile before starting her walk down the aisle.

Less than a minute later, Caroline heard Donna cue the musicians to change songs, and she recognizes her cue as the _Bridal Chorus_ started playing.

As soon as Caroline entered the ballroom, her arm linked through Matt's, everyone stood.

Though the ballroom was beautiful, with its ornate cream and gold walls, the blush carpet on the floor, the light pink ribbons and pink roses decorating the rows of seats; Caroline hardly noticed any of it.

Even though it had seemed so important to her to carefully select each shade of pink and the color of the chairs, none of the decorations seemed to matter much in the moment.

All she could see was Klaus, and all she could think about was that she was about to become his wife.

She was only vaguely aware of the groomsmen standing behind him, Elijah at his side as his best man; Kol, Finn, Marcel, and Josh (who Klaus had really only agreed to include because Caroline had chosen five bridesmaids and wanted even numbers on each side of the wedding party), all wearing the black suits with ivory dress shirts and pale pink vests and bow ties that she'd picked out for them, looking more handsome than she'd ever seen them.

She tried to increase her pace so that she could get to him faster, but Matt gently squeezed her arm, a motion that would be imperceptible to anyone else, but kept her from running off, which she would probably be grateful for when she watched the video later.

She looked through her veil at Klaus, knowing that he hadn't taken his eyes off of her since the moment she walked into the room.

Klaus looked happier than she had ever seen him. He wasn't crying, but he was wearing a smile that she had never seen before; a combination of sublime happiness, gratefulness, and complete contentment.

When they finally made it to the end of the aisle, Matt helped lift Caroline's veil off of her face, then relinquished Caroline, though, since he wasn't her parent, he didn't feel comfortable performing the traditional gesture of placing her hand in Klaus's. Caroline extended her hand to Klaus, who kissed the back of her hand and then her palm before lacing their fingers together.

Caroline then turned and handed her bouquet of pink and white roses to Bonnie, joining her other hand with Klaus's.

Though they remained standing facing each other, they both turned to look at the officiant.

As neither of them was particularly religious (Klaus had joked about the church catching on fire if he were to set foot in it), they had decided against having a priest marry them. Caroline had also voiced objections to being married by a judge or justice of the peace (it seemed cold and impersonal to her, reducing the ceremony in which the love of her life promised to love her for the rest of his life to a legal transaction), and to a family member getting ordained online and marrying them (which seemed impractical, since most of their family was in the wedding party, and would make Caroline feel like it wasn't really official), so Donna the wedding coordinator had offered the suggestion of a nondenominational officiant to conduct the ceremony.

"Please be seated," the officiant instructed the wedding guests.

Everyone sat down.

"Dearly beloved, we have come here today to witness the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony," the officiant started.

The officiant then launched into a rather generic sounding speech about the importance of marriage in contemporary times and throughout history.

Caroline was sure that the speech was informative and inspiring, but she had to strain to pay attention to the officiant's words.

All she could think about was how Klaus's eyes never wavered from hers, how he was trying to silently tell her with his eyes how much he loved her, how happy he was to be marrying her, how lucky he felt that she wanted to marry him.

Caroline squeezed Klaus's hands and tried to return the same message back to him with her own eyes.

"Marriage is a sacred institution," the officiant was saying. "It is a commitment that must be entered into freely and completely, with no reservations. We are here today to share this special moment with Niklaus and Caroline as they make this commitment to each other."

Klaus made a face as the officiant referred to him by his full name. Caroline had insisted, stating that anything as official as marriage needed to be done using their full, proper names, and though Klaus hadn't been thrilled with the idea, he had agreed to make Caroline happy.

"Into this union Niklaus and Caroline now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not be lawfully wed, speak now, or else forever hold your peace," the officiant said.

Caroline knew that no one would object, even if they truly had just cause, out of fear of Klaus's wrath if they did so. They had both turned to face the wedding guests, but Caroline didn't need to see Klaus's face to picture his menacing stare.

Caroline instead looked at Victoria, who had asked at the rehearsal dinner yesterday what this part of the ceremony meant. Donna the wedding coordinator had informed her that it was to give anyone who didn't want Klaus and Caroline to get married the opportunity to say so.

"But they have to get married and live happily ever after!" Victoria had insisted.

It was only after Donna had repeatedly told her that it was an old-fashioned tradition and it was rare that anyone actually voiced any objections that she started to calm down.

But now, from her little chair on the aisle, Victoria had turned in her seat to face the rest of the guests and mimed zipping her lips, locking them, and throwing away the key.

After a pause, Klaus and Caroline turned back to face each other so that the officiant could continue the ceremony.

The officiant turned to Caroline.

"Caroline, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Caroline answered, her voice weighed down by her emotion but unwavering, her gaze locked on Klaus's face.

Then the officiant turned to Klaus.

"Niklaus, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Klaus answered.

"Niklaus and Caroline have chosen to recite their own vows," the officiant announced.

"Caroline," Klaus started. "For many years I lived by the motto that love was a weakness, and I criticized and mocked my siblings every time they fell in love. And then I met you, and I was proven right. Loving you did make me weak, and vulnerable, more than I'd ever been before, but I didn't care. Every time I risked my safety to ensure yours, every time I went out of my way to spend time with you or try to make you happy; the rational, strategic part of my brain knew that I was turning into the lovesick fool I had always accused my brother and sister of being, but I didn't care. One of your beautiful smiles made me feel like I could take on the world, one touch of your hand made me feel like I had been struck by lightning. I found myself telling you things that I'd never told anyone else, and when you kept my confidence, I realized that I trusted you, even though at the time the idea of trusting anyone outside of my family was at least as unlikely and foreign a concept to me as loving someone other than my siblings. You are my sun, Caroline. My world revolves around you, and you are what brings light and warmth to my life. I have already made you promises in the past, to take you anywhere in the world you wish to go, and to love you for the rest of our lives. I intend to keep every promise I make to you. To me, getting married is just one more promise to love you and care for you: one that will allow me to call you my wife—a very basic human desire, which makes sense, as you bring out the humanity in me—and allow us to officially be a family. Always and forever."

"Caroline?" the officiant prompted.

"Klaus," Caroline started, struggling to control the emotion in her voice at least enough that she could be heard and understood. "You told me when you asked me to marry you that I was the reason that you were able to love our daughters as much as you do, because you already loved me more than you ever thought you could be capable of. But what I don't know if you realize is that you're the reason that I'm able to love them, too. When the twins were born, I was scared of how much I loved them, scared of being a bad mother, scared that I was in college, building a life for myself, with plans and a future and things that I wanted, and becoming a mother so young, under those circumstances, was not at all part of my plans. But you had faith in me, even when no one else in my life did; and you knew that I loved them and wanted to be their mother, even when no one else in my life did. You have always encouraged and inspired me to learn, and grow, and change, and live up to my full potential, and I have always loved you for that. You have always encouraged and inspired me to dream bigger, and set my sights higher, and live as though I hold the world on a silver platter, and what's more, is that you truly believe that I deserve it, and I have always loved you for that. Before I met you, I always felt like no matter how hard I tried, I was never the one who anyone chose. But you make me feel so important, and special, and like even if you could choose any person on the planet, living or dead, you would still choose me, and you wouldn't even have to take a second to think about it, and I just need you to know how happy it makes me every day that I'm the girl you've chosen to love forever."

Klaus let go of Caroline's hands briefly to wipe away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks as she spoke.

"Niklaus, please repeat after me," the officiant instructed. "I, Niklaus, take you, Caroline…"

"I, Niklaus, take you, Caroline…" Klaus repeated.

"To be my lawfully wedded wife…"

"To be my lawfully wedded wife…"

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live."

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live."

"Caroline, please repeat after me," the officiant instructed. "I, Caroline, take you, Niklaus…"

"I, Caroline, take you, Niklaus…" Caroline repeated.

"To be my lawfully wedded husband…"

"To be my lawfully wedded husband…"

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live."

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live."

Caroline had started crying when Klaus said his name, and hadn't been able to control herself since. She was so overwhelmed with happiness that she couldn't stop the tears of joy.

"May I please have the rings?" the officiant requested.

Elijah handed the rings, which he had retrieved from Victoria when she'd walked in, to the officiant.

The rings that Klaus and Caroline had chosen were identical yellow gold bands, inlayed with small, round diamonds all the way around, identical to the inside of Caroline's engagement ring, and designed so that her two rings would fit perfectly together.

The officiant handed Caroline's smaller wedding ring to Klaus.

"Niklaus, please repeat after me," the officiant instructed. "I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. With this ring, I thee wed."

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness," Klaus repeated, sliding the ring onto Caroline's ring finger on her left hand. In preparation for this moment, she had moved her engagement ring to the ring finger of her right hand after removing the rings she usually wore there. "With this ring, I thee wed."

The officiant then handed Klaus's wedding ring to Caroline.

"Caroline, please repeat after me," the officiant instructed. "I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. With this ring, I thee wed."

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness," Caroline repeated, sliding the ring onto Klaus's ring finger on his left hand. "With this ring, I thee wed."

"By the power vested in me by the state of Louisiana, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the officiant concluded the ceremony.

Klaus smiled, reaching forward and stroking Caroline's cheek softly with his thumb before leaning in and kissing her gently.

When he pulled away, far too soon for Caroline's liking, she could feel him breath the words, "I love you," against her skin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Niklaus Mikaelson."

{ }

 _July 3, 2019 (one year, four months earlier)_

 _Caroline had set her alarm to go off at 6:30 that morning so that she would be up in time._

 _"_ _Come on, we have a birthday girl to wake up," Caroline said quietly to Klaus, who had sat straight up in bed the second the alarm started blaring._

 _They quickly dressed in jeans and the shirts that Rebekah had had custom-made for the entire family in honor of the occasion—cotton candy pink tee-shirts decorated with a heart made of darker pink glitter, with 'Princess Victoria's First Birthday' written in fancy script that was made to look like it had been cut out of the glitter heart. The shirts were ostentatious to say the least, and Caroline was certain multiple members of the family would refuse to wear theirs, but one thing Rebekah could never be accused of was subtlety, and their baby girl would only ever have one first birthday, so Klaus and Caroline were willing to play along (if only because no one outside of the family would see them)._

 _Once they were dressed, Klaus and Caroline made their way to Victoria's nursery next door._

 _At exactly 6:46 a.m., Caroline gently scooped the still-sleeping baby out of her crib and sang 'Happy Birthday' to her._

 _"_ _Happy Birthday, Princess Victoria; Mommy loves you so much," Caroline said softly into her daughter's golden blonde curls._

 _Victoria was apparently not very impressed with her mother's singing or affection, because she slept through the entire thing._

 _"_ _It is clearly not as important to Victoria as it is to me that we sing 'Happy Birthday' at the exact time the birthday girl was born," Caroline commented, setting Victoria back down in her crib._

 _"_ _I understand your disappointment, but it is Victoria's first birthday," Klaus pointed out. "She doesn't know what that means, or why today is important, or why she's getting presents and everyone is wearing these outrageous shirts. She won't even remember it. So do whatever will make you happy, but just know that we're mostly doing this for us, and for the pictures we can all look at later."_

 _"_ _Where did that fortune cookie of parenting wisdom come from?" Caroline asked, still somewhat disgruntled._

 _"I did successfully raise Marcel to adulthood, in case you've forgotten, and now I have four more children,"_ _Klaus remarked. "I was bound to learn something about raising them at some point, if only by accident."_

 _"_ _I suppose you have a point," Caroline conceded._

 _"_ _Now, let's let her sleep, and I can give you your present," Klaus suggested._

 _"_ _It isn't my birthday!" Caroline exclaimed._

 _"_ _If we're celebrating Victoria for being born on this day, then it's only fair that we celebrate you for giving birth on this day," Klaus argued._

 _"_ _That isn't how birthdays work, but I'm getting the feeling that this is one of those times where you've made up your mind and there's nothing I can do or say to get you to change it," Caroline said._

 _"_ _Your feeling is correct," Klaus agreed, leading her out of Victoria's room and back into their own._

 _Caroline sat down on the bed as Klaus reached into his bedside table, pulling out a black velvet ring box._

 _"_ _Happy Our Baby's Birthday," Klaus told her, handing her the box._

 _"_ _Thank you, you too," Caroline replied uncertainly._

 _Inside the box were two rings._

 _Caroline picked up the first one, an eternity band with alternating round rubies and diamonds set in yellow gold._

 _"_ _This looks just like—"_

 _"_ _It is," Klaus interrupted._

 _"_ _Okay, two things. One, how on earth did you track down the exact ring that Prince Rainier proposed to Grace Kelly with when most people don't even know that she had an original engagement ring and then wore a bigger, flashier one when her fiancé found out that other Hollywood actresses had huge diamond rings? And two, with this, we have officially driven this symbol of our relationship into the ground, it is dead and buried six feet under, never to be revived."_

 _"_ _Agreed," Klaus chuckled. "And if you were ever inclined to do so, you would find that there is very little that the combination of money and compulsion cannot accomplish."_

 _Caroline rolled her eyes, taking out the second ring. It was a pearl on a thin band of yellow gold, simpler than any piece of jewelry that Klaus had ever given her._

 _"_ _That was worn by Queen Victoria," Klaus explained when Caroline looked at him questioningly._

 _Klaus took both rings from Caroline, then her right hand, putting first the ruby ring and then the pearl ring on her ring finger._

 _"_ _Victoria Grace," Caroline said quietly with a small smile on her face._

 _She looked down at her hands._

 _"_ _But I wanted my girls together," she complained._

 _For Christmas the year before, Klaus had given Caroline a beautiful ring to represent the twins: a heart made of their birthstone, aquamarine, set on a band made of two thin strands of gold twisted together and covered with pink sapphires. Since it fit on her index finger and her daylight ring was on the index finger of her right hand, her aquamarine ring had ended up on her left._

 _"_ _Just switch your daylight ring to your other hand," Klaus suggested. "Didn't you used to wear your daylight ring on your left hand?"_

 _Caroline had long since passed the point of being surprised that Klaus remembered minute details about her._

 _"_ _Yes, but then Freya made me a new one, so I put the new one on before taking the old one off, so I couldn't put it on the same finger," Caroline said._

 _"_ _I can protect you from the big, bad sun for the few seconds it will take to put your ring on your other hand," Klaus chuckled. "I think it makes more sense to have the rings for the girls on your right hand, since you're right-handed, so you'll see them more as you go about your everyday activities. Even though you like your new daylight ring much more than your old one, it still won't give you the same joy to see it when you move your hands."_

 _Deciding that Klaus did make a good point, she crawled over the bed to sit on the floor in front of it, where the thin line of sunlight coming in through the closed curtains wouldn't reach her, and moved her daylight ring to her left hand and her aquamarine ring to her right hand._

 _They only had to wait another hour for the birthday girl to wake up. Caroline immediately dressed her in her favorite pink jeans and her version of the custom shirts Rebekah had ordered—nearly identical to everyone else's but with 'Birthday Princess' written in the heart instead._

 _On their way downstairs, they ran into Hope, who was wearing her birthday shirt with olive green shorts and her beloved green Converse All-Star sneakers._

 _"_ _Happy Birthday, baby sister!" Hope told Victoria, who giggled and clapped her hands adorably in response._

 _As they continued downstairs, Hope chattered excitedly to Victoria, who responded to the best of her limited ability. She had said her first word during Hope's spring break from school ('love,' echoing the term of endearment that her father often called her mother), but had started babbling and saying little baby talk words that had no understandable meaning to anyone else around Christmas time. After continued prompting and encouragement from her parents, she could now also say 'mama,' 'dada,' 'yes,' 'no,' 'mine,' and 'nap.'_

 _Their next goal was to teach Victoria how to say the names of everyone in her family, so as they crossed the courtyard, Hope repeatedly asked Victoria if she could say 'Hope.' Victoria, looking confused, kept saying, 'no,' in response._

 _"_ _Victoria does not need that many birthday presents! She's turning one! She isn't going to remember any of this!" Caroline said, gesturing to the already massive pile of gifts that captured their attention as soon as they entered the dining room._

 _"_ _Caroline, you know that I see cute pink baby things, and I can't help myself, I have to buy them," Rebekah defended herself._

 _"_ _You aren't the one who has to make sure she doesn't end up spoiled," Caroline shot back._

 _"_ _Wasn't much chance of that," Klaus muttered under his breath._

 _Caroline glared at him._

 _With only Rebekah (wearing the birthday shirt), Katherine and Elijah (both stubbornly refusing to wear the birthday shirt) and Freya (wearing the birthday shirt) in the room, that meant that the pile of presents that Caroline had started the night before when she'd brought the gifts from her and Klaus downstairs, only contained gifts from the six of them, and would only grow larger once Kol and Davina, Finn, Bonnie, and Marcel added their gifts._

 _Even the usually more reasonable Finn added half a dozen presents to the pile when he came downstairs (wearing the birthday shirt)._

 _Elijah had decided to make breakfast for the girls, cooking pancakes and eggs at the stove for Hope and the twins while Caroline fed Victoria baby oatmeal with a bright pink plastic spoon._

 _Lizzie and Josie entered the room a few minutes later (wearing their birthday shirts), quickly hugging Victoria and wishing her a happy birthday before sitting down to eat._

 _Once everyone arrived (all of them wearing the birthday shirt), Klaus and Caroline caved to Rebekah's pleas to let Victoria open her presents right away._

 _It took almost two hours to get through all of the packages, but afterwards, Victoria was the proud owner of several hundred new pink dresses, a few dozen pink stuffed animals, and a wide array of clothes, dolls, toys, and books, as well as a few pink bows that she'd torn of gifts and stuck to the top of her head._

 _As soon as Victoria had finished opening her presents and Caroline had finished cleaning up the remains of the wrapping paper, Klaus announced that they had an appointment after breakfast._

 _"_ _Who's 'we,' and what kind of appointment?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _The two of us and the four girls, and it's a surprise," Klaus answered._

 _"_ _Do I need to change clothes?"_

 _"_ _Not if you don't want to."_

 _Caroline spent the time it took the girls to get ready to leave to think up all the possibilities she could for what the mystery appointment was. If Klaus wasn't making them change clothes, then they couldn't be meeting anyone outside of the family. It couldn't be related to the council or a new enemy, or the entire family would have been invited._

 _"_ _Whenever you're finished speculating, we can go," Klaus teased knowingly._

 _They strapped the girls into the backseats of Klaus's car, and drove for just under half an hour before they reached their destination._

 _Klaus pulled into the long, circular driveway of a palatial plantation home on the outskirts of the city. There didn't appear to be another home within miles of this residence—whoever the owner was, they must like their privacy._

 _"_ _Whose property is this?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _It's ours," Klaus answered with a smile._

 _"_ _All this belongs to us?" Caroline questioned._

 _The house was considerably larger than the Mikaelson compound in the city, and even more opulent than their mansion in Mystic Falls. Caroline could count at least four stories to the house that stretched out at least half a dozen times as wide as the house she grew up in._

 _If the Mikaelsons' home in Mystic Falls was a mansion, and their home in the French Quarter was a fortress, then this home was a palace._

 _"_ _What's wrong with the house we live in now?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _Victoria will start walking any day now, and that house isn't the safest environment for a small child just starting to be able to move around by themselves. I want her to have a safe and happy home to grow up in, so I had this house built," Klaus said._

 _"_ _How long have you been working on this?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _Since the day after we brought Victoria home from the hospital and you complained about how much work it would be to baby proof the house," Klaus answered. "Would you like to see the inside?"_

 _"_ _That would be great," Caroline agreed, still a little overwhelmed._

 _They got out of the car, unbuckled the girls from their car seats, and made their way up the long driveway, Caroline clinging Victoria closely to her so that she could focus on the little girl in her arms rather than the inordinate size—and equally obscene cost, she was sure—of this house where she was apparently going to live._

 _Klaus pulled out a key and unlocked the front door._

 _On the other side of the door was a grand foyer with large windows that allowed sunlight to land in beams on the wood floor. There was an opulent spiral staircase on either side of the room, leading to the second story, which had a hallway with a half-size wall between the two staircases, so that that portion of the hallway also functioned as a balcony overlooking the entryway, though Caroline was relieved to see that the shorter portion of the wall was still tall enough to keep the girls from falling._

 _There was a door on each side of the entryway, which Klaus said led to a coat closet and to a staircase down to the basement and the wine cellar, respectively._

 _Klaus led them all further into the large foyer, gesturing around them as he spoke._

 _"_ _The first floor is the common rooms, the second floor is the additional rooms, the third floor is our rooms, and the fourth floor is for everyone else. I'll give you the tour," he said._

 _The first room they saw was the large, state-of-the-art kitchen, which had vanilla-colored walls, marble countertops, top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, and a large island. Attached to the kitchen was a large walk-in pantry that could surely hold at least a year's worth of food._

 _Next to the kitchen was the informal dining room. The room felt cozy, with the round maple wood table and one of Klaus's paintings already hanging on the walls as if they already lived there._

 _The family room had a similar welcoming atmosphere, with its muted pumpkin orange walls and overstuffed beige couches, along with the big-screen television on a maple wood TV stand._

 _The other rooms on the ground floor, as lovely as they were, felt extraneous to Caroline, and she couldn't see herself using them very often. She simply didn't see the point of having a formal dining room and formal living room when she would only use them on holidays._

 _In the Mikaelson mansion, there were several rooms that didn't seem to serve any specific purpose, at least that Caroline knew of, while in this house, it seemed that the designers had needed to fill the excessive amount of space with multiples of the same room._

 _As Caroline started to lead the girls towards one of the staircases, Klaus stopped her._

 _"_ _Wait, there's still one room on this floor you haven't seen yet, my love," he said._

 _He led them back to the foyer, striding purposefully towards a set of double doors directly across from the front door that Caroline now realized led to far too large a space to be the closet she had originally thought._

 _It was a ballroom._

 _"_ _So that you no longer have to throw parties outside in the courtyard," Klaus told Caroline._

 _Its positioning in the house made sense. They could throw a party and easily contain their guests to the foyer and the ballroom while restricting access to the other rooms. It also divided the main floor, which had an otherwise open floor plan, between the formal rooms and the common rooms, with the kitchen, pantry, informal dining room, and family room on one side, the formal dining room and living room on the other, and a bathroom on each side._

 _The ballroom was easily the largest room on the first floor, with high ceilings and a cream and gold color scheme. There was already a sound system tucked discretely out of the way, with speakers attached to the ceiling, which, along with the bar along one of the walls, would make setting up for events much easier for Caroline and whoever she convinced to help her._

 _"_ _Wow," Lizzie said, tipping her head back to look up at the ceiling._

 _"_ _When you're all done admiring this room, we can go upstairs," Klaus invited._

 _The second floor contained all of the rooms that would only be found in a house of this size, owned by a person of Klaus's wealth. There was a massive library, a movie theater, a TV room, a game room, a music room, a magic room, a lounge, a den (though Caroline wasn't sure what the difference was between them or why they needed both), and a bathroom at each end of the hall._

 _After exploring the rooms on the second floor, all of which excited the girls, they went upstairs to the third floor._

 _"_ _That's the children's wing," Klaus told them, gesturing to the left._

 _"_ _The children have their own wing?" Caroline questioned._

 _Klaus nodded, smiling, leading them down the hall._

 _Four of the six doors had nameplates on them, which had a pastel background and the girl's name in a darker and brighter version of the color with a shiny metallic finish._

 _On the left side of the hallway was an unmarked door closest to the staircase, then a door with a periwinkle nameplate with Josie's name written on it in bright metallic bluish-purple script, then a door with a mint green nameplate with Hope's name written on it in metallic emerald green script. On the right side of the hallway was a door with a cotton candy pink nameplate with Victoria's name written on it in metallic hot pink script closest to the staircase, then a door with a pale peach nameplate with Lizzie's name on it in metallic coral, then another unmarked door._

 _"_ _What are those two rooms?" Caroline asked, pointing to the doors without nameplates._

 _"_ _We'll save those for last," Klaus promised. "Now, I put Victoria's room closest to ours, since she's the baby."_

 _He opened Victoria's door, revealing a near copy of her room at the other house, though this room was almost twice the size. It had the same color pink paint on the walls, the same glossy white furniture, and the same pink bedding and décor. The only difference was that on one wall, there was a mural painted of a castle, with the sunrise turning the sky pink behind it._

 _"_ _What do you think, Victoria? Do you like your new room?" Caroline asked._

 _"_ _Mine?" Victoria repeated._

 _"_ _Yes, yours, my littlest love," Klaus confirmed._

 _Victoria clapped her hands and grinned._

 _Next, they went next door to Lizzie's room, which had peach walls and pale wood furniture with curved lines—a twin-sized bed, a dresser, a bookcase, a bedside table—though a desk was conspicuously absent. She also had a mural painted on one of her walls: a colorful flower garden with butterflies and bees flying above the plants._

 _Then they went across the hall to Josie's room. The walls were painted periwinkle, except for the wall with the mural of a sunny summer sky above the ocean. She had simple wood furniture, though she didn't have a desk in her room either._

 _Last was Hope's room. Three of her walls were painted a soothing mint green, but the mural on the fourth was the most elaborate of all of the girls'. It was of a pack of wolves running through the forest at night under the light of the full moon. Her wood furniture had been stained a cool grey with subtle blue and green undertones that picked up the colors in her mural._

 _Each of the rooms were almost twice as large as the rooms they had now, with attached walk-in closets and en suite bathrooms that were almost twice as large as the ones they had now._

 _None of the older three girls' rooms had been decorated like Victoria's so that they could choose their own décor or keep what they already had in their rooms at the other house._

 _"_ _Did you paint all of those murals yourself?" Caroline asked Klaus when they were back in the hallway._

 _"_ _I did," Klaus answered. "I wanted them to be perfect."_

 _"_ _Girls, say thank you so that he knows how much you appreciate all his hard work," Caroline prompted._

 _The older three girls immediately thanked Klaus, while Victoria said something that sounded more like, 'hey you.'_

 _"_ _Now this room," Klaus opened the door to the last room on Lizzie and Victoria's side of the hall. "Is something that I'm not quite sure about."_

 _The room was painted pale yellow, with two twin beds, two dressers, and two bookshelves. It didn't have its own mural._

 _"_ _This is the twins' room," Klaus explained. "I wasn't sure if they would be ready to have their own rooms, so I decided to be prepared either way. If they want to use the rooms I prepared for them individually, we can move the furniture out and have this room be dedicated to the girls practicing their magic."_

 _Caroline was touched by his thoughtfulness and thanked him._

 _"_ _And what's that last room?" Caroline asked._

 _Klaus showed them._

 _It was a combination of a playroom and an office. In the front of the room were four desks, two facing each of the side walls, each with a desktop computer sitting on them. The twins' desks were together, as they would be in the same grade in school and would be learning the same material, and Hope's and Victoria's were on the opposite wall. Caroline could tell whose desk was whose by the color of their desk chair: orange for Lizzie, blue for Josie, green for Hope, and pink for Victoria. Against the back wall were four toy chests in the same colors with the girls' names written on the front, leaving the rest of the space in the room for them to work or play._

 _"_ _This entire wing is so amazing, I'm sure the girls will be really happy here," Caroline said._

 _The girls agreed, talking excitedly about how much they loved their rooms._

 _"_ _I'm glad," Klaus replied._

 _They walked over to the other end of the hallway, which only had three doors; one on each of the three walls._

 _"_ _This is our wing," Klaus told Caroline. "This is my art studio, which can also double as an office if I need it to," he pointed to the door on the right. "And this is your office."_

 _Klaus opened the door on the opposite wall, showing Caroline a room painted an inviting light beige, with a large mahogany desk with a large desktop computer and printer, a couch, whiteboards printed with a checklist and a monthly calendar, and a cupboard where she could keep party supplies._

 _"_ _I love it, thank you," Caroline said._

 _"_ _You're very welcome," Klaus replied._

 _Next, they visited the master suite. The room was painted a warm beige with rosy undertones, and was at least twice as large as the house Caroline grew up in. It had a sitting area with four round-backed chairs and a round table, a large and luxurious master bathroom, and a walk-in closet and dressing area the size of the courtyard, in addition to the inordinately large bedroom._

 _When Caroline tried to question the necessity of such a large room, Klaus quickly shepherded them all up to the fourth floor._

 _They took a look at all eight bedrooms and attached bathrooms, the media room, and the study, all of which gave Caroline a hunch._

 _"_ _These are all guest rooms," she concluded after seeing yet another neutrally painted and decorated bedroom._

 _"_ _They are," Klaus agreed._

 _"_ _So, we aren't all moving here. It's just the six of us," Caroline inferred._

 _"_ _That is correct," Klaus responded. "As much as I love my family, I don't know if I want our daughters thinking that it's normal to be raised practically in a commune. And I don't want them to think it's healthy to be as co-dependent as my siblings and I have been. I want them to be raised in a household with two parents that love them, and be visited by their extended family who loves them, but do not need to be with them every second to prove that they love them."_

 _"_ _It feels like we're growing up," Caroline said. "Bonnie seems a lot happier and more confident now that she moved out to live in that apartment in Marcel's building, now we're moving into this beautiful palace that you had built for us, I wouldn't be surprised if Kol and Davina or Katherine and Elijah decided to get their own place soon either."_

 _"_ _Maybe we're finally learning that we don't have to live in each other's pockets to be a family."_

 _Having seen all of the interior of the house, they headed outside to the enormous backyard, which could also be accessed through a door in the ballroom, offering even more possibilities for parties._

 _There was a huge patio attached to the house with chairs and tables, an outdoor kitchen, a barbeque, and a bar. When they descended the steps of the patio, they arrived at a large in-ground pool, surrounded by deck chairs and cabanas. Beyond that were acres and acres of land that were undeveloped for the most part, except for a stable and a gated paddock for horses, which all three of the older girls had expressed a desire to have._

 _With the girls uncontrollably giddy at the prospect of getting ponies, they went back inside the house._

 _In the foyer, Klaus took Caroline's hand and turned her to face him, then he took her other hand as well and laced their fingers together._

 _"_ _I built this house for you, because I want my home to be with you," Klaus told her. "I want to continue building my life around you, because you and our daughters are what make me happy, and what make my life complete. You are the reason that I can love them so completely, because I already loved you more than I ever thought I could be capable of, and I love you more with every passing second. You told me once that anybody who is capable of love is capable of being saved; well, you were the one who proved that I was capable of love, and loving you is what saved me. Now, I already promised you that I would be your last love, knowing that no matter what happened, you would be mine, but I want to make very clear to you in every way that I can think of that I will love you, more than anyone has ever loved or could ever love another person, until the moment this Earth ceases to exist."_

 _Then he reluctantly let go of one of Caroline's hands to reach for something in his jacket pocket, and carefully dropped to one knee in front of her._

 _Caroline was weeping before he even managed to get a word out._

 _"_ _Caroline," Klaus started, an almost imperceptible nervous quiver in his voice. "I would consider it the greatest honor of my long life if you would agree to become my wife. Will you marry me?"_

 _"_ _Yes!" Caroline cried as soon as he finished asking the question._

 _Klaus stood, picked up Caroline's left hand and slid the engagement ring he had chosen for her onto her ring finger._

 _The ring was stunning, but not at all what Caroline would have chosen for herself. She recognized that her tastes tended to be more trendy, which wasn't appropriate for a piece of jewelry that she would be wearing every day for the rest of her life, which could be thousands of years._

 _The ring that Klaus had chosen for her was the perfect combination of classic and unique, so that the ring would remain beautifully timeless through the years, but no one else would have anything similar._

 _The ring had a large, oval-cut diamond—short and round, nearly as wide as it was long—that took up almost all of the space on her finger up to the first knuckle, and on either side of the main stone was a heart-shaped side stone that followed the tapered curve of the yellow-gold band, which was encrusted with tiny round diamonds on the rest of its surface._

 _Caroline couldn't stop staring at the gorgeous diamond ring that she would wear every day for the rest of her life._

 _"_ _It's so beautiful," Caroline said almost reverently. "I love it. I love you!"_

 _Caroline threw her arms around Klaus's neck and clung to him, surely soaking his shirt with her tears of joy._

 _Almost having forgotten that they were in the room, Caroline could hear the girls cheering as they ran over to hug their parents, Victoria wiggling out of Lizzie's hold to try to reach Caroline._

 _"_ _Yay!" Victoria cheered, beaming up at her parents._

{ }

Present

An hour later, they had returned to the ballroom for the wedding reception.

Their guests had spent the hour milling around with cocktails in the lobby, while the bride, groom, and their wedding party had spent the hour taking pictures.

Caroline had ordered the photographer to keep continually shooting the entire time, so that they would have candid pictures in between the posed ones.

And there were many, many posed pictures: the bride and groom; the bride and groom with the best man and maid of honor; the bride and groom with their children; the bride with the children; the bride with her bridesmaids and flower girl; the groom with his groomsmen; all of the children together; the entire wedding party. It seemed that the photographer was trying to capture every combination of people she could.

Finally, the photographer was satisfied and declared them finished with the photo session and Donna the wedding coordinator led them back inside to the ballroom for the reception.

The ballroom had been transformed. Where just an hour ago there had been rows of chairs, there were now dozens of round tables with the palest pink tablecloths surrounding a circular dance floor. On one side of the room was a long table for the wedding party on a platform raised two steps above the floor. In front of that table was a smaller kids' table for the four girls. That way, they were close enough for their parents to keep an eye on them, but they felt independent and grown up enough to sit by themselves. The kids' table was placed directly in front of the center of the head table, so Victoria's and Lizzie's seats were right in front of Caroline and Josie's and Hope's seats were right in front of Klaus.

At her seat, Caroline picked up her place card, determined to keep it for her keepsake box. The name cards were the same pale pink as the tablecloths, with the person's name written in metallic gold script. Caroline's said 'Mrs. Caroline Mikaelson' (the first time she'd seen her married name printed anywhere) with a little tiara above it.

"Mommy," Victoria tried to get her attention. She turned around and handed Caroline her place card, knowing that Caroline wanted to keep it, along with her flower girl outfit, in a keepsake box for Victoria.

The twins and Hope handed theirs to Caroline as well. Caroline barely glanced at Hope's card, but Lizzie's and Josie's gave her pause.

Since Klaus and Caroline had signed the adoption forms at the same time they'd signed the marriage documents, technically, once the documents were filed and approved, the twins would be Mikaelsons. So, like Caroline, their name cards were the first time they would be referred to by their new names.

It had been the twins' idea to change their names. When they'd started school, they'd been met with confused and judgmental reactions when Hope had introduced them as her sisters because they didn't have the same last name as Hope. They'd also been instructed to not talk about the supernatural if they could avoid it, for their own protection, so they couldn't explain their family situation in a way that made sense but still omitted the details they needed to keep private. Caroline could also tell that the girls' teachers and the school's administration found it needlessly complicated that Caroline and Klaus were listed as Lizzie and Josie's parents or guardians, but neither of them had the same last name as the twins.

So when Caroline informed them that she planned to take Klaus's name after the wedding, and that Klaus were going to adopt them after the wedding, Lizzie and Josie had immediately asked if they could change their names, too.

Even though she knew that it was going to happen, seeing the cards reading, 'Miss Elizabeth Mikaelson' and 'Miss Josette Mikaelson' still made Caroline emotional.

The only other place card she'd even had to think about was Katherine's. When Caroline had asked if she wanted Katherine or Katerina on the card, Katherine had said, "I don't care. My seat is the one between Davina and Freya, so that is where I'm going to sit. If your wedding planner can't handle it, they can just put a picture of a cat for all I care."

They'd only been seated for a few minutes when servers started going around the room filling glasses with water, wine, and champagne (and sparkling apple cider for the children). Dinner was served not long after that.

Dinner was a fun, celebratory affair as the Mikaelson family talked and laughed together as they ate. Kol and Marcel told jokes and stories of what they had all done that morning before the ceremony. Katherine tried to one-up them with stories of her own, with Freya occasionally jumping in to dispute Katherine's exaggerated retellings. Rebekah kept gushing about how beautiful the ceremony was.

Even after lingering over multiple courses, servers eventually came around to clear their plates, and it was time for the toasts.

Elijah stood up and tapped his spoon against his wine glass to get everyone's attention. Once the conversation in the room came to a stop, he took a thin stack of note cards from the pocket of his suit jacket.

"Thank you," Elijah said. "As the best man and older brother of the groom, I would like to wish you all a good evening, and thank you all for coming to celebrate this joyous occasion with our family."

Caroline listened attentively to Elijah's speech, smiling and holding Klaus's hand as she did so. If there was any member of the Mikaelson family that she could count on not to embarrass her, it was Elijah, so she felt free to relax as he spoke.

"In preparing for this speech, I researched best man speeches," Elijah added.

"Of course he did," Klaus mumbled in Caroline's ear, pressing a kiss to her cheek before he pulled away.

"And I learned that I am to compliment the appearance of the wedding party," Elijah continued. "So, Caroline, you are an exceptionally beautiful bride; I have never seen you more radiant than you look today. Niklaus, despite your aversion to formalwear, I'm sure your bride appreciates the effort you made today."

Caroline laughed and nodded.

"All of the bridesmaids look quite beautiful as well, though I hope I will be forgiven for adding that my Katerina looks especially stunning."

"I would like to start my speech by saying how pleased I am to be able to witness this day, and how honored I am to have been asked to be a part of it," Elijah said. "As anyone who knows the Mikaelson family can attest, none of us would have ever thought that Niklaus would be the first among us to get married. In fact, most of us were convinced that Niklaus would never love anyone enough to want to get married at all. But I have witnessed the love between Niklaus and Caroline, and I would be willing to hazard a guess that there is very little that my brother does not love Caroline enough to do."

"It has been the preeminent goal of my life to proof to Niklaus that he is worthy of unconditional love. I have worked tirelessly to try to undo the harm that years of abuse at my father's hands did to my brother. I had tried everything I could think of, and I had nearly stopped searching for new strategies to get through to him when he was reunited with a girl I vaguely recognized from a party thrown by a family years earlier," Elijah continued. "I witnessed the most unusual behavior in my brother. For the first time, around someone other than his daughter, he was acting as if he had to prove himself worthy of her time and company. Eventually Caroline overcame her fears and admitted that she returned Niklaus's love, and since then, I have seen him become worthy of that gift, and see himself as being worthy of that gift. To be standing by my brother's side as he vows to love his wife for the rest of time, and as he hears her make the same promise in return, is the fulfillment of everything I have ever wanted for my brother, and I could not be prouder of him for achieving it."

"Caroline, it is my honor to officially welcome you to the Mikaelson family, and to offer my congratulations to my brother and his wife, who is without a doubt the best thing to ever happen to him and to this entire family. I wish you both eternal love and happiness together, always and forever. Congratulations Niklaus and Caroline!"

The guests all clapped and raised their glasses in a toast. As Elijah sat back down, Klaus and Caroline both thanked him for his lovely, touching words.

Then Bonnie stood up to make her own toast, holding colorful notecards in her hand.

"Hello everyone," she greeted, less confidently than Elijah had. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Bonnie Bennett, I'm Caroline's maid of honor and best friend since we were as old as the small children you see sitting in front of the bride and groom."

"First, I hope all of you won't mind giving Elijah another round of applause for his wonderful speech. All of that research really did pay off," Bonnie teased, pausing for everyone to clap. "And I would also like to echo his compliments to everyone at the head table. The groomsmen all look very dapper, but don't worry Elijah, I'm sure they won't be stealing your signature look again anytime soon. My fellow bridesmaids, you all look gorgeous. Klaus, today you look especially handsome and especially besotted. And Caroline, you truly are the most beautiful bride I've ever seen, and I'm not just saying that because I did your hair."

Caroline laughed. She knew that Bonnie's speech would be more lighthearted and less formal than Elijah's had been, though hopefully her friend would not bring up any embarrassing childhood stories.

"I would like to start by thanking all of you for coming to share this special day with Klaus, Caroline, and their families," Bonnie said. "Caroline worked very hard, meticulously planning every moment of this day, so we hope that you enjoyed it. And if you didn't, we're sorry, but we didn't know you when Caroline first started planning her wedding almost twenty years ago."

"My friendship with Caroline can be summed up with one sentence she told me a few years ago: 'Your happiness is a part of my happiness, always.' After so many years, you are my family, Caroline, and you are my home. Where you go, I go. When you jump, I jump. I couldn't be completely happy if you weren't happy. There is no one on Earth who knows me better than Caroline does. And before I move on to offer my thoughts on Caroline's relationship with Klaus, I just have to say, Care, that your mom and dad would be so proud of the strong, beautiful, compassionate person, and loving mother and wife you've grown up to be."

Bonnie and Caroline were both in tears by that point in her speech.

"As a witness from the beginning of the Klaus and Caroline show, I can honestly say that even when I didn't particularly like Klaus, or didn't think that he was worthy of my best friend, I appreciated that he always worked hard to win her over, and treated her like she was important to him," Bonnie continued. "Because I remember a day, when we were sixteen, that Caroline was drunkenly complaining to me that no one she liked ever chose her; that she was shallow and always said the wrong thing, and that she tried so hard, but she was never the one anyone chose. And what made me give Klaus my blessing to marry Caroline, was that I knew that to him, you are the one, Care. The only one he'll ever love, the only person he sees when he walks into a room. And you've never even had to try at all."

"I could not be happier for you, Caroline, that you've found your Prince Charming to spend the rest of your life with. I love you, so much, and I am so grateful and thrilled that I get to be a part of your happily ever after. Cheers!"

Everyone again raised their glasses and clapped. Caroline reached out to hug Bonnie as she sat down.

"Wait!" Bonnie popped back up out of her seat. "Sorry, I forgot something."

She took out a white piece of paper and started reading.

"If Caroline gets married before I wake up, please tell her that I love her and I wish I could be there," Bonnie read tearfully.

Caroline burst into a new set of tears as she realized that Bonnie was reading a letter Elena had written and somehow magically sent to Bonnie. It was her version of the journals she'd asked them to write.

"Tell her that she looks beautiful, and I don't even need to see her to know that. Tell her that I'm so happy for her, and I can't wait to see her again. Tell her that I wish her a lifetime of love and happiness with her new husband, and tell her congratulations from me. Thanks, Bonnie. Love, Elena."

Both still weeping, Caroline hugged and thanked Bonnie again.

"You need to clean yourself up and get yourself together, it's time for your first dance," Rebekah ordered.

Caroline obligingly wiped her eyes and allowed Klaus to help her out of her seat. Klaus took her hand and led her out to the dance floor while the opening notes of their song, "Give Me Love," started playing.

"Have I told you recently how beautiful you look today, Mrs. Mikaelson?" Klaus asked with a smile.

"You aren't going to be one of those people who refer to their wife as 'Mrs." all the time, are you?" Caroline asked.

"Not if you don't want me to," Klaus replied.

"Good answer, you're really getting the hang of this husband thing," Caroline complimented.

"I aim to please," Klaus responded. "As they say, happy wife, happy life."

Caroline giggled.

"Have I told you recently how much I love you, my love?" Klaus asked.

"Not in the last ten minutes," Caroline commented.

"I love you, endlessly and eternally," Klaus said.

Caroline saw the camera flashes go off as she leaned up to kiss him in response.

Too soon, the song ended and the rest of the wedding party joined them on the dance floor. They had decided not to force them to dance with their partners from the recessional when some of them had romantic partners in the wedding party, so Katherine and Elijah were dancing together, as were Kol and Davina, Rebekah and Marcel, Freya and Finn, and Bonnie and Josh.

After the second song, the dance floor opened up to everyone for a few songs before it was time to cut the cake.

The cake they had chosen was a simple, classic, beautiful vanilla cake with white buttercream frosting, decorated with oversized sprinkles that looked like pearls and roses made out of pink and white frosting.

After Klaus and Caroline cut the cake and neatly fed each other the first pieces, they left Bonnie in charge of cake distribution and saving the cake topper, and returned to dancing, Caroline taking turns with Elijah, Marcel, Kol, and Finn, while Klaus danced with Bonnie, Rebekah, Freya, and Davina.

Soon it came time for Caroline to throw her bouquet.

As all of the unmarried women in attendance (her sisters-in-law at the front of the crowd) gathered around her, she turned so that her back was to them and tossed the bouquet behind her.

Not wanting to see the fight over the flowers, Caroline remained facing in the opposite direction until the sounds of the scuffle had stopped.

As predicted, Katherine's competitive instincts had kicked in, and she had emerged victorious, while Rebekah sat on the floor, her hair slightly disheveled; Freya was standing off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest and a wry smile on her face; Davina was sitting in the corner, looking like she had run for cover as soon as the bouquet left Caroline's hands; and Bonnie standing in the center of the front row, wanting to be a part of the tradition but not wanting to risk anyone getting hurt in the process.

Then came the part that Caroline hadn't been looking forward to, but Katherine and Bonnie had insisted that she couldn't only do half of the tradition.

Kol brought over a chair and she sat down, then Klaus knelt in front of her.

Fortunately, Klaus both was possessive and knew that she thought this tradition was crude, so he quickly removed the garter from her under her dress without revealing even a hint of her legs to anyone else.

He held up the piece of ivory and light pink fabric, then, ignoring the crowd of unmarried men, simply handed it to Elijah.

No one had the nerve to challenge him on it.

Caroline quickly got up and stood next to Klaus, watching as Katherine took her place on the chair and Elijah knelt in front of her, pushing the garter up Katherine's leg until he was satisfied with its position.

Then, for the conclusion of the tradition, the woman who caught the bouquet and the man who 'caught' the garter shared a dance while everyone else watched and cheered for the couple, who, according to tradition, would be the next ones to walk down the aisle.

Once the spectacle was over, Caroline found herself back in her husband's arms on the dance floor. They had spent most of the night together, yet every time they were separated, Caroline missed him.

"I love you so much," Caroline whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I love you," Klaus replied, leaning down to kiss her temple.

Caroline looked around the room as they danced. Katherine and Elijah were on the dance floor with them. Kol and Davina had taken Josie with them to the open bar and had ordered a Shirley Temple for her. Lizzie was sitting in between Rebekah and Marcel at the head table, shoveling another piece of cake into her mouth. Josh was sitting with Aiden, Vincent, and Eva at their table. Hope had dragged Hayley and Jackson over to the huge pile of wedding gifts, trying to count how many there were. Freya and Finn were standing in the corner, quietly observing the festivities. Bonnie was making her way through the crowd towards the dance floor. Victoria was sitting at the kids' table facing the rest of the ballroom, their little queen holding court.

"Is everything all right?" Klaus asked softly.

Caroline smiled up at him.

"Everything's perfect."

* * *

"I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence."

~Sidney Carton, _A Tale of Two Cities_

* * *

…and they lived happily ever after (:

That's the end!

My heart is so full of love and gratitude for everyone who has read this story; to everyone who sent me a review, whether only once or every chapter; to everyone who added this story to their list of favorite stories or stories that they followed; to everyone who recommended this story to a fellow Klaroline lover; to everyone who nominated or voted for this story for a fan award.

I'm pleased and proud of myself for finishing the first story I ever posted on this site, and still overwhelmed and overjoyed by all of the love and support that this story has received. I feel such a sense of accomplishment and gratitude, and I thank all of you lovely readers with all my heart for following along with me on this journey.

Please feel free to send me any requests you may have for the sequel, _A Life You Love_ , and I will get started fulfilling your prompts, as well as writing my own ideas, as soon as I can! I'm so excited to continue sharing my writing with my lovely, passionate, dedicated readers!

One last time, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading, this chapter and every chapter. I am so sincerely thankful to everyone who has read this story. Writing it was a true labor of love, and I have loved sharing it with all of you.

All my love,

charlotte


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